How this month has gone, and future plans

It's been an interesting month, saleswise. Sales were about the same as August, which were not great by any means. But they're remaining level, which I suppose is something. Despite being reviewed on two rather big romance blogs, Seeing Spots sold about what it did last month. But indie books often take a while to get rolling, so I'm not stressing yet. I did buy several paid ads for it, and as far as I can tell none of them have had the slightest effect. This confirms for me that paid ads are generally pretty worthless (and for those few sites where they have a big impact, they're usually booked far, far in advance). I thought it was worth the experiment, but I don't think I'll bother with paid ads again.

Isn't It Romantic? went free on Amazon.UK (with 7000 downloads), but something is snagging in Amazon.com's system-- not only is the book not going free there, but its ranking has disappeared, and despite repeated queries on my part, Amazon can't seem to figure out why. It seems like something is wrong with the book's listing somehow. After a month of frustration, I've decided to put Isn't It Romantic? back to 99 cents on Smash, and to upload In the Mood and make that one free instead. Hopefully its path to freeness (freedom?) will go more smoothly. We'll see.

Oddly enough, though, Isn't It Romantic? has been my big seller on Amazon this month. Maybe being free on Smash has created some word of mouth for it (though why people aren't just downloading it free on Smash I couldn't tell you-- convenience?). In the Mood, usually my bestseller, slacked off quite a bit, and several of my other Ellen Fisher books slumped as well. Fortunately my pen name is picking up steam on Amazon, and several of her books sold better there than usual.

I am feeling much better, thanks to the magic of Remicade, so I have several projects in mind: a new paranormal under my pen name, a short story (All the Way) for Ellen, and a Christmas novella for Ellen. We'll see if I can find time to get all that done. The top priority is the Christmas novella-- Unwrapped sold really well last year, and I think writing a new Christmas story can often get you some visibility in December. I have a cute plot in mind... just need to find time to write it!

I am also planning out Spotless, the sequel to Seeing Spots, but that probably won't be finished till next spring. I do hope to get the cover soon, though. I'll also be getting back the rights to I'll Be There for You and The Nerd Prince in February, so I need to get those covers done, too.