Different strokes for different folks

I have one hotter romance title that has sold a big five copies on Amazon this month. But when I totalled it up on B&N, I saw it had sold 45 copies. Still not a huge seller, obviously, but I see steady sales of all my hot stuff on B&N. When you have enough titles, even smallish daily sales begin to add up.

Conversely, one of my hotter romances has somehow gotten rolling on Amazon, and has sold over 300 copies there this month. It hasn't sold nearly as well on B&N. I don't know how to explain what does and doesn't sell, but clearly having a lot of titles helps, as does having them available on different platforms.

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.

Big news from Amazon

According to this, the new Kindle Fire (the tablet) will be $199. There will be a basic Kindle at $79, a Kindle Touch at $99, and a Touch with 3G at $149. Surprisingly low prices!

Remicade works wonders

The Remicade is already doing great things for me. Today I walked around Wal-Mart. Just... walked around Wal-Mart. All the way. Without having to stay near the bathroom. Without having to buy something quickly and rush out again. I just ambled around and looked at stuff.

It's like being born again, I'm tellin' ya.

"E-book operations"

Link from Karen Newton. According to this article, Trident Media Services is launching "e-book operations":

The new division will “create, manage and implement innovative e-book strategies including the distribution of a variety of e-books directly to a large number of e-tailers in North America and internationally.” In addition, they will consult with authors about everything from digital design to social media to exploring new relationships with “traditional and non-traditional publishers.”

This seems to be clearly aimed at their already-existing clients. But as always, look carefully at something like this before you give up a percentage of your profits, and make sure what they're offering is really worth it.

Yay, a Mrs. Giggles review!

Mrs. Giggles gives Seeing Spots a kind review (a rating of 80) here. She says, "This is a really cute story. I know, the word 'cute' has icky connotations that are usually dangerous to people with low tolerance for schmaltz, but Seeing Spots is fluffy, comical, and adorable." Well, cool... that's exactly what I was going for!

Things I'd like to do

I got my first dose of Remicade today. The Benedryl they gave me with it made me snoozy, so I lay back in my recliner and dozed through most of it. Then I went home and slept on the couch for a couple hours. So no real complaints!

I have a lot of Crohn's-related damage, so I don't expect the first dose to do a lot, but I have the second dose in only two weeks. Hopefully things will start improving after that. I was thinking wistfully today about the things I'd like to do again. Little, ordinary things. Severe Crohn's isolates a person more than you might imagine. I miss basic stuff, like being able to walk my dog around the neighborhood (due to an unfortunate lack of public restrooms), or being able to do substantial grocery shopping without having to worry about being caught on the side of the store opposite the bathroom. (I wind up shopping once a day, so I don't have to buy much at once, and sometimes my girls have to do it for me.) I'd like to be able to walk my boys to the bus stop without having to run back to the house before the bus gets there. Little stuff like that, things that most of you probably take for granted. I'd also like to get my anemia under control, so I have some energy and can get back to writing on a serious, daily basis.

I hope the Remicade will fix things. It works for a lot of people. So here's hoping!

Sniffle, sniffle, sneeze

I've had a cold for a couple of days (thanks to one of the kids, who brought home a nice fresh virus from school). As a result, I haven't been able to go see my dad. He's whining about it, but there is no way I'm exposing a 94-year-old to germs unnecessarily. He'll live without company a few days.

The downside is that I haven't felt like getting much else done, either. Annoying. But tomorrow I'm going to get my first dose of Remicade for my Crohn's. It's an infusion, so I'll sit there for three or four hours with my Kindle in the relative peace and quiet of the infusion center. Sounds almost like a holiday, doesn't it? And with any luck, it will improve my overall health pretty soon.

The Lion King 3D

The kids and I went to see The Lion King in 3D (I was the one who most wanted to see it, hee). We lost our DVD somehow when we moved, so we haven't seen it in a couple of years, and the youngest doesn't remember it at all. It was very enjoyable. Still a great movie!

The 3D did have a somewhat spotty feel-- the pretty watercolor backgrounds had no real feeling of depth, and some scenes seemed more 3D than others. ("I Just Can't Wait to Be King" was one of the best parts, because its fairly simple, cartoony animation translated well into 3D.) Also, some of the faces and bodies were slightly distorted by the 3D effect. In particular, Mufasa's face looked oddly bloated. Most bright red (the sunsets, the fire) had a peculiar retina-burning effect that didn't look quite right. And finally, I thought the rain at the climax of the movie was too in-your-face-3D and obscured what was happening, but the kids liked it and thought it was well done.

Overall, though, it was a terrific experience.

B&N contest

B&N has a contest going here. They're giving away a "FREE professionally designed eBook cover" to "one lucky author."

Amazon seems to be testing changes

A couple of Amazon changes have been noticed by Kindleboard posters that may have an adverse effect on indie sales if they're implemented permanently. First of all, on Amazon UK, they seem to be trying out paid advertising. If you go to one of my books, or many other romance books, you'll get the usual page, but with a prominently located ad just below the buying information: Tempted to try a new author of romantic fiction? Why not check out the paperback edition of Cecelia Ahern's debut novel, Where Rainbows End, for just £1.99? Learn more. There's a link, and a thumbnail of the cover. Unlike the "also boughts," this feels like an effort to divert traffic to specific, targeted books (especially considering its prominent placement on the page). So far, it hasn't shown up on Amazon.com, but if it becomes a regular thing there, it may affect sales.

And speaking of "also boughts," some people on KB are reporting that rather than the "also bought" list on a book's listing (which often includes indies, or other books by the same author), they're seeing a list of the top 100 books in the same category. This is not being seen by everyone, so it's presumably a test, rather than a permanent change. It may make perfect sense for Amazon to try to send readers to their more popular books, but if they implement this change, it will almost certainly have a powerfully adverse effect on indies. Lots of our sales come from the "also bought" lists-- it's one of the best ways for readers to find us. If they change this permanently, it will likely be tougher for readers to find us.

Self-publishing 101

Some guy just randomly promoted his first book on the Amazon romance threads, even though it isn't a romance. When I went to look it up, I saw that it was only available in a CreateSpace paperback edition-- no Kindle edition. Therefore I couldn't check the quality of the writing, and would have had to pay $14 to find out if the author could write. Unsurprisingly, I chose not to do that.

Note to all indies: Put out a reasonably priced Kindle edition. I don't care if you've always dreamed of seeing your book in print, or if you think this whole silly e-publishing thing is just a fad, or you just know your work is so awesome it's worth fourteen dollars, or whatever. An electronic version is absolutely necessary. It 1. enables readers to sample your writing and find out if you can actually write (which, despite your assurances, is not a given, believe me) and 2. enables you to provide a reasonably-priced edition that will encourage readers to take a chance on you.

Trust me on this: No one is going to pony up fourteen bucks on an unknown writer whose work they haven't sampled. No one.

Indie successes

There's a great post on Joe Konrath's blog about Bella Andre/Lucy Kevin, and her amazing successes as an indie.

Where I was

My 9/11 story isn't particularly interesting or unique-- pretty much like everyone else's who didn't live in DC or NYC, I imagine. I was driving back from dropping off kid #2 at preschool with a very young baby in the backseat when I heard on the radio that a plane had flown into one of the World Trade Center buildings. The news announcer seemed to think it was probably a private plane that had made a navigational error. But a couple of moments later, they announced a second plane had hit, and at that point it was horribly clear that it was no accident. I drove home, turned on the TV, and sat riveted in horror.

At one point I noticed my neighbor out in her backyard, and went out to tell her the news in case she hadn't heard. She hadn't. I remember she asked, "But the buildings are still standing, right?" and I answered, "Well, of course they're still standing. It's not like planes could knock them over-- could they?" I honestly couldn't conceive of something as huge as the World Trade Center towers falling or collapsing. It just didn't seem possible when they did in fact collapse.

A morning with Dad

I took Dad out today, and we did breakfast rather than lunch (I'm having to go over there early now because I have to pick the oldest up from school rather early every day). We drove into Norfolk and observed "the Tide," i.e., the light rail, which is now running:
Dad is old enough to remember the streetcars that used to run around Norfolk, of course, so he's thrilled to see something like them once again. One of these days, when we have enough time, we'll park at the big Newtown Road parking lot and ride it, since it's supposed to be very handicapped accessible. Should be fun!

Free update

Isn't It Romantic? has been downloaded for free over 1150 times in the UK and is now #16 on the free list there. This doesn't seem to be moving a lot of my other books, sadly. All I Ever Wanted has sold a few copies, but when I looked at it I realized it had been discounted to .49 (from .86) thanks to iTunes discounting it and Amazon price matching. As if the regular price isn't low enough! This seems to be a recurring problem with using Smashwords as a distributor, unfortunately. I haven't seen any new sales on In the Mood or Seeing Spots over there, alas. But who knows? Maybe the exposure will benefit me eventually.

Free in the UK

Isn't It Romantic? has gone free in the UK, and has already "sold" 476 copies, putting it at #37 on their free list (and #1 on their Humour list). It'd be nice if this gave me more exposure over there, since I still am not selling a load of books in the UK. I also hope it means Amazon.com will soon switch it to free on this side of the pond, too. Here's hopin'!

That Dear Author review for SEEING SPOTS...

...has some of the nicest comments on it. One person says, "...I do remember this author for having a nice writing style." The reviewer responds, "She does have a really nice writing style – very pleasant and funny. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the story, and it was a great little read. My biggest problem was that it wasn’t all that memorable for me, so it wasn’t catapulted into a higher grade range. That’s all. Her heroes are very sweet and beta, which was a nice change of pace." Other comments: "That’s my favorite thing about the one story of hers I’ve read: a likable, believable beta hero." "I really enjoy Ellen’s stories precisely because they are uncomplicated and humorous with adorable beta heroes."

Awwww. It's lovely to be appreciated:-). I do think it's interesting, though, that readers mostly seem to remember my humor (such as it is, heh) and my beta heroes. It seems that my historicals and Never Love a Stranger (all of which are fairly heavy, angsty reading) haven't made as much of an impression as my lightweight, fluffy contemporaries.

RT me!

I participated in #SampleSunday today for the first time. Since I was actually paying attention, I noticed a bunch of retweets going past. I looked, and sure enough, on Kindleboards there's a thread for people to RT each other. I had thought the #SampleSunday thread on KB would simply be a place to post your link so people could find it, but no, it's explicitly set up to encourage people to RT each other.

I really do wonder if this helps. If people RT a whole lot of stuff like this (even if they try to schedule it out so it's not so spammy), do readers really pay attention? Don't readers get sick of seeing all those RTed samples? I would think they would, after a while...

If it does work, though, I suppose I'm at a disadvantage, publicity-wise, since my sample is only tweeted once, and some samples are being tweeted dozens of times.

Excerpt from Seeing Spots for #SampleSunday

"Call me Kathy," she said, staring at him. "After everything we did together this morning, I think you should call me Kathy."

"And I think you should call me Dare. But only if you’re not going to dump me."

Her hand squeezed harder. He winced.

"I don’t think I can dump you if we’re not dating," she said softly.

"Don’t you think that after everything that's happened, we can reasonably say that we’re dating?"

"Well, maybe…"

"And yet you’re still trying to blow me off."

"I'm not trying to blow you off." She drew herself up with an air of calm dignity that was belied by the nervously fluttering fingers. "I'm just trying to make sure we're both on the same page."

"Kathy..." He sighed. "We were on the same page this morning."

"Maybe. Not really. I mean, you just kind of got carried away. It was the underwear, not me."

"Sure, Kathy. I always sleep with women because I like their bras."

She looked annoyed by his snark. "You've never looked at me like that before," she said irritably. "But the minute you caught a glimpse of my underwear, you were all over me like..."

"Spots on a leopard?"

"Something like that, yeah. And before that, you couldn’t stop staring at my spotted t-shirt. Obviously you have a spot fetish."

"Kathy..." He cocked his head. "Do you really find it that hard to believe that I find you sexy?"

She was silent a long moment, while her fingers fluttered frantically.

"Yes," she said at last, very softly. "I do."

He frowned at her, narrowing his eyes. "You do realize I came over here tonight to have sex with you, right?"

"Oh. Well. I understand that you probably feel sort of obligated now..."

"Obligated!" He rose to his feet with a sudden surge of indignation. "Obligated!? Are you kidding me?"

"Okay, maybe obligated wasn't quite the right word..."

"It was totally the wrong word." He grabbed her by the arms and hauled her up against him, glaring down into her eyes. "Kathy, I came over here to make love to you because I find you attractive. And sexy. And hot as hell."

"Oh," she said in a small voice. "Well... if you're sure..."

"I'm sure. Believe me, I'm sure. I'm so sure I went out shopping after work, and bought you a little something."

She tilted her head, curiosity lighting the golden depths of her eyes. "What?"

He lowered his head and whispered into her ear.

"Take off my jeans and find out."

Yay!

Thanks to Week in Rewind for featuring Seeing Spots!

Hero meets the neighbors

New neighbors moved in today-- a nice family with three kids. I've talked to them a couple of times, but today they were relaxing on their deck (after a hard day spent unpacking a huge truck), and the dogs went over to that end of the yard and woofed: You are strangers, we don't like strangers! Alert! Alert!

I went out and told them to calm down, and the husband (a big guy who must stand six foot three) came over, a little hesitantly. I assured him the dogs were harmless, and he came into the yard. Hero immediately jumped up and gently put his feet on the guy's chest, waggling like mad, and Impulse followed (because although he knows better, he will do what Hero does).

I yelled, "OFF!", but the guy said, "Oh, that's okay, don't worry about it," and put his arms around Hero, patting him. Of course, that was a cue to Hero to adore the new neighbor forever and ever. (Like the dog in Up: "I just met you, but I LOVE YOU!!!") He started bouncing higher and higher-- in front of the guy, because he knows he's not supposed to actually jump ON people very hard-- and the guy bent over and got smacked squarely in the mouth by Hero's happily bounding head. Hero didn't notice, but the neighbor definitely did.

Fortunately, there was no serious damage done. But let this be a lesson to you-- don't encourage idiotic, large, bounding masses of fur to jump on you. You might regret it.

Sales for August

I didn't have a great month for sales in August (lots of others said sales were generally slow, too). I sold about 4400 books-- just a touch less than last month. I hope that Seeing Spots will pick up steam this month, and that Isn't It Romantic? will finally go free. Both those things would likely help sales.

Yay, my first review!

Dear Author gives Seeing Spots a C+. Nice review that is entirely accurate-- there's not a lot of conflict in this story, and it's mostly just for fun. If that's what you're looking for, it's the book for you, but don't read it expecting a lot of angst or depth:-). "Overall a cute read, and you have an easy voice that is a pleasure to read."