A few things before we got to the numbers:
- I don't claim my results are typical. Many self-publishers sell more than this, and many sell less. That said, I think my results give a pretty good sense of what you can expect if you're publishing fiction and putting in modest efforts at marketing.
- Free is still a great way to get your books to more readers. By giving books away for free, I get them beyond my circle of family and friends and build a broader readership.
- It's gotten harder to get your book to rocket to the top of the free lists on Kindle. There's a lot of competition. You have to list paid advertisements if you want to top the free charts.
- I did almost no marketing in 2015, beyond mentioning my work on social media. I decided mid-year to make Watch Me Disappear perma-free as a marketing tool, but that's about it.
- My two biggest sales channels, by far, were Kindle Direct and Audible, with direct sales, meaning selling books in person at events, close behind.
| Watch Me Disappear | Paid | Free |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 (August - Dec) | 90 | 1103 |
| 2013 | 296 | 3917 |
| 2014 | 40 | 858 |
| 2015 | 28 | 333 |
| Totals | 454 | 6211 |
| The Latecomers Fan Club | Paid | Free |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 (Nov - Dec) | 51 | 583 |
| 2014 | 89 | 7464 |
| 2015 | 87 | 766 |
| Totals | 227 | 8813 |
As you can infer, I didn't make a ton of money selling books in 2015, but my readership keeps growing, and that's what I care about the most. Considering how little marketing I did, I'd say it was a pretty good year!
I hope this information helps you get some perspective of what to expect if you're thinking of self-publishing in 2016, or if you have already self-published and feel alone and confused and unsure if your results are good, bad, or in between.
Happy New Year and keep writing!
Thanks so much for sharing this. I am indeed thinking about self-publishing in 2016, and although I'm trying my best to prepare myself, I don't really know what to expect.
ReplyDeleteI think those are good numbers. I don't expect to make money out of self-publishing, so growing my readership would be fabulous :-)
Happy new year to you :-)
Thanks for reading, Sarah! There are loads of benefits to self-publishing. Best of luck to you with your writing. If you decide to take the self-pub plunge, let me know how it goes. Indie authors unite ;)
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