Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Busy Times Ahead!

My life is going to get busy.  Really Busy.

Tonight I start with Play Practice.  Yes, I'm participating in the Local City-wide Play production of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.  I'm excited to have the role of one of the brides.  While that may be enough work for the next few months, I guess I'm a glutten for punishment because I'm also taking on the duties of Choreographer of 3 of the dances, including the crazy-intense challenge dance.

So life is now going to get very busy for me (and my family) and I'll have to cut back somewhere.  That somewhere will be my cyber-social world.  A serious lack of blogging, very little activity on Twitter and almost no blog hopping/reading.

But it's only for a few months!  Besides, in my 'free time' (ha ha), I'll still be doing my best to keep up with the world of Facebook and the writing world too.  My book will remain on sale for Kindle and I'll run a promotion or two as well.  I'll try and remember to post on Twitter about the 'Free Day's for Sweetwater Springs, as well as maybe even finding time to post a blog post or two.

So anyway - for the next 3 or 4 months, life will be very busy.  But busy is better than bored, right?

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Oh My Gosh! Something's Happening to Sweetwater Springs!

I thought it appropriate to let you know that something is happening with Sweetwater Springs!  It's currently 10:30pm MST and my sales are really starting to move!  (just to be clear, 'my' definition of 'move' is obviously different than everyone elses)

I meant to get on a day or so ago and do an update to my KDP listing of Sweetwater Springs, but found myself just too busy to get it done.

Consider this the update.  :]

Somewhere between 5pm and 9pm today, I started getting sales.  Ok, I've been getting sales since listing on KDP Select, but this is a significant increase in numbers.  While I'm still not breaking the bank by any means, I'm very excited to see the moving of my baby, my book.

Just as a back notice, though - Exactly 2 weeks after I first listed Sweetwater on Kindle Select and did my 2 day free promotion (which was a great success), my ranking took a major nose dive (from the 20K-40K range all the way down below 100K range).  So the next day I used the 'Price Pulsing' idea of dropping the listing price to just $.99 cents in hopes of gaining back some of my placement.  It worked and the next day I was back up in the 20K range.  Yeah!

So I decided that after having my baby at $.99 for a few days, it was time to move back to my $2.99 mark.  So this morning I tweeted that this would be the last day at $.99 and I tweeted once more a little later in the day.

Then - between 5pm and 9pm, something happened and I saw 20 some odd sales.  Between 9 and 10 I've gotten another 10 or so.  Now, while it's currently listed at only $.99, the royalties aren't very big .... but ...

royalties aren't the big deal here right now - it's book ranking.  Check this out:

Right now, my book is currently listed at about the 3500 ranking mark!  YEA!  AND - Even better --  I'm listed in 'Western Romance' at number 54! YEA!!!  54!

Now - for full disclosure, I've been trying to market my book for a while now and I recognize that success in the publishing industry is fleeting at best and tomorrow morning, things may look very different.  But until then ....  I'm enjoying my success.

What happened this evening to make this big change?  I don't know, but I'm very, very happy about it and hope to see lots more of this success.

Friday, March 2, 2012

Follow up to Tracking My Kindle Book Sales

In follow up to this post: http://alextaylorwolfe.blogspot.com/2012/02/help-tracking-and-monitoring-my-kindle.html

I've noticed a change in the KDP reporting feature.  This is better.  It looks like Amazon has divided up the different methods of 'selling' the book into separate columns of reporting data.  This change sure helps to see better what is happening.

The new columns I see are:
Units Sold
Units Refunded
Net Units Sold
Units Borrowed
Free Units - Promo
Free Units - Price Matching.

Previously, in my report, I only saw 'units sold'.  This, of course, only provided a portion of the needed data to see what kind of money I was making and how many units I was moving.  These new columns provide some important information  for my tracking.

Most importantly, - Separation of 'Sold', 'Borrowed', and 'Free'.  This was the biggest.  With 2K+ 'sales' last week, it didn't tell me much of what was going on.  Were they all free? Paid? How many of each?  This new separation helps me see where my books are going.

So - a quick shoutout to the 'Reporting' team at Amazon for providing us authors with more information regarding our sales at the KDP.

What other benefits do you get from the new reporting layout?

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Authors: I'm looking for a new book to read.

Inspired by this post: http://plottingprincesses.blogspot.com/2012/03/i-heart-books-by-kathy-ivan.html

In between being a mom and writing, I regularly find time to read (almost exclusively now on my kindle).  I'm on the hunt for another great novel to read.  Authors, feel free to post in the comments your suggestions for a new title for me to read.

Please keep in mind I lean more to the 'Clean' side of romance (no 'bodice-rippers' and/or explicit sex).  If you have a book available on the kindle that you think I might enjoy - please feel free to post it in the comments below.  FREE publicity for your book!

Format:
Title: Sweetwater Springs
Author: Alex Taylor Wolfe
Available on: Kindle (free to prime members)
Description: In the spring of 1900, Katie O’Hare returns to Sweetwater Springs ten years after being orphaned by a murderous act that left her with nothing but an old pocket watch and scattered memories. Reluctantly she begins to fall for Tyler Reynolds, a rugged young cowboy with a troubled past. As their romance deepens, they find themselves tragically connected to a secret that puts their love and their lives in danger.


Your Turn:

Title:
Author:
Available on:
Description:

Top 5 Favorite Books - #5

As part of a series of posts, documenting my top 5 favorite books of all time.  What they are and why I love them.



#5 : The Giver

Description:
Jonas's world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear of pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the community. When Jonas turns 12 he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver. The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life. Now, it is time for Jonas to receive the truth. There is no turning back.


Why I love it: I love the concept of this book, and it is so well written. If you want a book that will make you really think about the world around you, this is it! 


What are your top 5 favorite books of all time?