Sunday Summary

  1. So I finally have a short story plot! I give the sketch of it in yesterday’s post where I also talk about how to overcome writer’s block, and I’m still working out details, but I think I’ve finally hit on something that’s uncomplicated enough that I can tell it in 15k or so.  That is probably more of a novelette but I just don’t do REALLY short.  Anyway, this would be something I should be able to write in a month or so once I figure out the specifics I’m missing.  And I have every intention of making it free and disseminating it everywhere I can.  There are, in fact, a LOT of places you can list stuff for free.  I may start tinkering with it this week as I move forward with the last lecture.  It’ll push back the release of Edge of Shadow a bit, but I think in the long run it makes more sense to have a freebie out there circulating and helping to build my readership in whatever way it can while I’m writing the next release.  So long as I can get EoS out by December in time for the Christmas “OMG I GOT A KINDLE! WHAT CAN I BUY?” rush, I’ll be happy.
  2. I have finished 10 of 12 lectures.  I’ll be writing number 11 today. I am really happy with the last two week’s progress.  It’s been more labor intensive than even I expected (and I’ve done this before), but I got ALMOST all of the lectures written while my boss was out of town.  She’ll be back tomorrow, so it’ll be back to the usual grindstone.  I might be able to squeeze the last lecture in a few slides a day this coming week, which would be great.  But we’re prepping for our annual work conference, so I’m not holding my breath.  If I don’t get to it before, next Sunday will be for the last lecture.  During the evenings I’ll be writing test questions and putting together the course infrastructure and the week following THAT, I’ll be staying after work every day when everyone leaves to record the lectures.  Bleh.  But it must be done.  Semester starts August 19th and I’m determined to have AS MUCH of the course FINISHED as humanly possible, because it makes my life so much easier for teaching on top of my regular job.
  3. This past week I upped my price on Forsaken By Shadow to $1.99, and I’ve been waiting with bated breath to see what that would do to my ranking. I nearly changed it back myself several times as my ranking slid into the 3k range, but I convinced myself to wait it out through the weekend (as reducing the price makes it unavailable for purchase for 24 hours, and since weekends are biggest sale time, it seemed wisest to wait until mid week to change it back).  My ranking slid around a lot getting back up in the high 2ks and back and forth into the 3ks.  So it was selling but not as many copies.  I don’t have any math to back up my suspicion that I’m probably breaking even with the average royalties I’d be making at the lower price because I don’t think the drop was enough to put me below 50% of the copies I was selling before.  But the issue of changing the price back to $1 is moot because apparently Amazon’s crawlers have found it listed for $1 still on Barnes and Noble (since it takes WEEKS to update stuff there), and have discounted it back to to $1.  I’m okay with that.  No 24 hour unbuyable period, and it looks like they’re getting a deal.  I expect my rankings to climb back into the 1k range and to cross over 1,000 total copies sold by the end of July.  Which is not at all bad for a little no name novella in 4 months and 1 week.  I’m close enough now that I may have sold 1,000 if you include the sales I don’t know about from other channels that only report quarterly.  Maybe I’ll hear something about those in early August for the end of the last quarter.

4 thoughts on “Sunday Summary

  1. I think the free short story idea is a great one. I’m still debating on whether or not to do the same thing. We both just need to make sure we get our current projects done before Christmas. 🙂

    I bet you’ll breathe a sigh of relief when those lectures are done!

    You know, I bet that’s why Amazon discounted Club Blood to .79, then .89. Kobo had discounted it to .79. Duh me. I didn’t figure that out. LOL Let us know if your sales go back up at the lower price. I’ve been really curious about pricing. Hey, and you still get 35% of 1.99 because Amazon is the one that discounted it.

    1. Yeah I’m back into the lower 1k range at the $1 price point, so that makes me happy.

      I don’t think I still get 35% of 1.99. I’m pretty sure I only get 35% of whatever Amazon sells it for.

      Finished the last lecture today, btw. THANK GOD. Still lots to do but the worst is over with.

      1. Kait, when Amazon discounted my book to .79, i still got 35% of .99. I asked Zoe when it first happened and she said they pay 35% of your retail price regardless of what they discount it for. Unless they somehow penalize you for raising the price on Amazon and not on other places. In my case, Kobo did that on their own. But I really think you will be getting 35% of 1.99.

        1. Really? Huh…well other than B and N which I don’t have much control over, it is $1.99 everywhere else, so if Amazon wants to discount it…then that’s cool with me.

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