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indie-publisher

Refusing to Rush

August 11, 2017 by frozbie Leave a Comment

I confess that I am impatient. I’ve been wanting to order new business cards for over a year, but have prioritised completing Fallen Warriors, marketing Fallen Warriors and recently writing the sequel.

When I decided yesterday to have a go at a new design for my author business cards, I wanted to order them straight away. (I felt a bit of pressure as there was a “33% off” offer from the printer I was planning to use…)

I was happy with the front image, but I knew the text on the back wasn’t working. Posting the front and back images yesterday was useful. I got helpful feedback which I’ve tried to listen to.

I had no-one suggest a different front, which is encouraging. The latest version of the back is below:

I had tried Tempus Sans font on the previous version–which I use on the cover of Fallen Warriors–but have now changed that to Antonio.

Thinking about what I’m trying to do with this card, I want to primarily use it as a marketing tool, something I can give to people I meet to advertise my novels. It tells them where they can buy or order, from selected bookshops (only four so far, but I need to keep working to expand that) and online.

Also, currently I’m giving away a short story to anyone who signs up to my mailing list, but it would make sense to offer samples of both novels since Book One of The Great Scottish Land Grab and Episode One of Fallen Warriors are both available for free already online. I can bundle the opening chapters and the short story into one sampler and it means that whether someone is interested in either novel, they can try it out in exchange for signing up to my mailing list.

I wondered if white as a background was too sparse and so have added a photo.

I’m going to hold off ordering new cards until next week. If you’ve any more feedback for me, do let me know.

Filed Under: 100 Words 100 Days, Fallen Warriors, The Great Scottish Land Grab Tagged With: 100X100, advertising, business cards, indie-author, indie-publisher, marketing

Analysis of Sales of The Great Scottish Land Grab Part One

June 20, 2017 by frozbie Leave a Comment

On 13th June 2014 I published my first fiction book: part one of a planned four book series titled The Great Scottish Land Grab. Published solely as an ebook through Amazon KDP, I fully intended to cash in on the hype surrounding the rapidly approaching referendum on Scottish independence.

This post is intended as an analysis of what worked and what failed as I attempted to market my first ebook.

Here’s the high level sales figures:

Total downloads:

The Great Scottish Land Grab Book One …. 227
The Great Scottish Land Grab Book Two …. 58
The Great Scottish Land Grab Book Three .. 56

Total sales receipts:

The Great Scottish Land Grab Book One …. £33.66
The Great Scottish Land Grab Book Two …. £74.75
The Great Scottish Land Grab Book Three .. £73.29

All these numbers are up to the end of May 2017, effectively three years worth of sales.

Somewhere during editing book two I realised that I would only manage to write three books before the referendum and so books three and four became one book.

On 24th September 2014, I released the full trilogy as a complete novel.

Total downloads:

The Great Scottish Land Grab …. 43

Total sales receipts:

The Great Scottish Land Grab …. £87.93

So, in total, in three years I’ve sold 384 books and made £269.63 from these ebooks.

I confess that at times it has been extremely depressing to know how few copies I’ve sold in a three year period. However, I’ve had a large number of readers contact me to tell me how much they enjoyed the story. I enjoyed writing the book and even enjoyed the rush of trying to market it at the time. It has been a worthwhile learning experience and I was able to go on to write a much better second novel in Fallen Warriors.

And I’ve gained knowledge about how not to market a book which does seem to be helping as I concentrate on Fallen Warriors. Tomorrow I’m going to look at some of the lessons I’m still trying to learn and apply.

Filed Under: 100 Words 100 Days, The Great Scottish Land Grab, Writing Tagged With: 100X100, amwriting, ebook, indie-publisher, KDP, referendum, Scottish Independence, self-publishing

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My 100 Goals Blog

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    Goal 31

    February 22, 2025
  • Q2 Halfway point

    Q2 Halfway point

    May 12, 2021
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    40K

    June 15, 2019

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