Arrows, Shadows, and Sales

Pop over to Arrows of Anteros and check out my flash piece, "Not Every Story Has A Happy Ending." This is how having a child has affected my writing. I have my little moments!

Today is Groundhog Day! Did the groundhog see its shadow where you live? All this day means to me is the opportunity to watch "Groundhog Day" again and again on television. A Bill Murray classic.

I haven't done a sales update lately. It's out of my curiosity how sales go for other authors that I share mine with you.

1302 - The Alpha
Amazon: 82
B&N: 24
Smashwords: 3
Kobo: 5
Total: 114

1301 - The Marquis
Amazon: 36
B&N: 6
Smashwords: 2
Kobo: 1
Total: 45

L'il Gal Al and the Zombies of Amarillo
Amazon: 1
B&N: 7
Smashwords: 111 (free)
Kobo (no stats as they don't count free downloads)
Total: 119

Fearless
Amazon: 5919
B&N: 3
Smashwords: 1123
Kobo: (I have no idea!)
Total: 7045

Fearless continues to do very well. It was in Amazon's top 100 for fantasy paranormal for most of January. It's free and a great way to hook readers to buy my other books.

Most of my sales for The Marquis came after the release of The Alpha. I'm hoping that with the great interest in The Dragonslayer, readers will buy it and the other book in the series.

How I did with my 2012 goals

Short stories - write 1 / submit 1 every month

I did it! My stories have gotten shorter as they year went on, but I'm happy with how they've turned out. I've learned a lot about writing short stories and flash fiction this year. Even if I don't get any more accepted, I feel I'm a better writer for having done this challenge.

 

Paranormal romance series

This is my 13th Floor series. I originally intended to write the first drafts of all six novellas this year, but you can never predict how life is going to change. I have the first two written. I planned to write the third this month, but with the holidays and sickness, I'm not going to make it. I'm very happy with how they're turning out and how the overall concept is coming together. This is the series I'm going to use to represent me as a writer. So it's probably for the best that I didn't rush into writing all six of them.

NaNoWriMo 2012

Yay! On November 26th, I reached over 50,000 words! I'm a 2012 NaNoWriMo winner. I wrote a superhero story called "Super Famous." I'm not sure I'll do anything with it, but it was a lot of fun to write.

 

Witch's First Rule revisions

This is a paranormal romance novel. The first in a completed trilogy. I queried the book three years ago and it got a lot of attention, but in the end, agents and publishers passed on it. I could never figure out why. Recently, I realized I was marketing it all wrong. The story started in the wrong place too. I've done two major revisions. The first chapter has been rewritten five times. But I had to put it aside. I still wasn't completely happy with the new beginning. It's starting in the right place now, but I'm not wild about the first chapter. I'm giving myself some time apart from it and maybe next year when I come back to it, I'll be able to write a first chapter that will wow me. I believe the protagonist is unique and her story fantastic, but I need to get it right before I start to query it again.

 

Projects I didn't plan

Fearless. Well, I did plan to do write it for the A to Z Challenge this year, but I never thought it would be so popular or that I would publish it. I'm very happy that everyone encouraged me to do so. Fearless continues to do very well. Thousands of readers have picked it up.

L'il Gal Al and the Zombies of Amarillo. I never thought I'd do anything with this story either. It was originally a short-listed story for an anthology, but was rejected in the end. Since it is on the longer side of short stories, I had trouble finding it a home. I wanted to get another story out there before I started publishing my 13th Floor series, and I wanted something different than paranormal romance. L'il Gal Al was perfect for the job.

 

Join me on Monday for my 2013 goals.

Sunday sales peek and what's coming up this week

Only 11 days until the release of the first book in my 13th Floor series, 1301 - The Marquis. It's coming on so quickly. You can see all the wonderful blogs I'll be visiting on my blog tour if you click on the 13th Floor series tab above. I'd like to remind you all if you'd like to be part of one or more of the upcoming blog tours, please email me. The more the merrier!

This week, there's a lot of exciting things happening. I'm hosting Cherie Reich tomorrow for her newest release, The Nightmare Collection. I'll be interviewing a brave young woman by the name of Cassie Richards and talking about her horrific experiences with the monster.

On Wednesday, it's the Insecure Writer's Support Group hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh. I'll be posting on the right day this month!

This Thursday is the very first Writers4Writers Group post. It's a brilliant way for writers to help other writers through social media. It's as fast and simple as a tweet.

I hadn't checked on my sales for about four weeks. November was a busy month. It was also a very bad month for sales. I've noticed a few other writers have mentioned this as well. Maybe everyone was too busy NaNo-ing? Or maybe I just need to promote some more.

Fearless still does pretty well. Hopefully it'll get a boost when The Marquis is released. These are my Fearless total sales since August. (Not including anything that's been downloaded from Kobo as they don't track free downloads.)
Amazon - 3921
Smashwords - 890
B&N - 3

Downloads for L'il Gal Al and the Zombies of Amarillo still mosey along like a tortoise on a desert vacation.
Amazon - 5
Smashwords - 89
B&N - 3

Friday Five for October 19th

1. Thank you for all the enthusiasm about L'il Gal Al and the Zombies of Amarillo. It's great to finally have it out there and to supply y'all with some Halloween reading. I've gotten mixed reviews. It makes me anxious and I start to doubt myself. Then I want to put another story out to blow everyone's socks off. Oh the ups and downs of being a writer!

2. I haven't done a sales update recently. Fearless continues to be strong on Amazon. This past month, the UK sales doubled and beat out the US ones. Sales on Smashwords have slowed. I hope to get a boost next week with my Fearless tour from Shades of Rose Marketing. Here are my stats since the release. I'll put up L'il Gal Al's stats too.
    Fearless                                                                      L'il Gal Al
       Amazon - 3055                                                           2
       Smashwords - 731                                                      24
       B&N -  3                                                                    0

3. Something new I learned this week: Kobo does not show the stats on downloads for free books. I've been under the impression for a long time that I've sold nothing on Kobo. I might have had a lot of downloads or none, but I'll never know.

4. I lost my morning writing time this week because I substituted at my son's preschool while his teacher was away on vacation. I've always admired teachers greatly, but I've gained an even higher appreciation for them this week. Thankfully the class just lasts for 2.5 hours in the morning. I don't think I could've make it through a full day! My energy levels can't match that of seven toddlers.

5. My writer's group meets tomorrow, but I've no other plans for the weekend other than grocery shopping and recycling. I have a Halloween party on the 27th, but I still haven't found a costume yet. My husband's going as Superman from an alternate world. A world where Superman landed in Russia rather than the US. Hehehe! I told him I was going to give him the Superman curl. I wonder if he'll let me.

Have a great weekend!

L'il Gal Al now available

L'il Gal Al and the Zombies of Amarillo

A dime-store western with bite!

Now available at

Smashwords (free)

Amazon

B&N

Kobo (free)

Please take a moment and do the price-matching

thing on Amazon. I'd love for it to be

free there too.

Blurb:

Alma Sweeney might be scrawny, but the last yahoo that called her "L'il Gal Al" got shot in the foot.

Using her frontier skills to protect travelers and businesses alike, Alma escorts a group of settlers into Amarillo, a town with too many yellow flowers, drunks, and zombies. Within minutes of her arrival, she finds herself doing the sheriff's job. He's a nice enough fellow, but a little green, and he has no clue how to stop the horror dragging itself into his town.

Lucky for the sheriff, he has Alma. Her first night in town yanks her into a foul mystery. Zombies walk the streets and people are driven from their homes and businesses. Alma thinks it easily solved, but in the desert, things aren't always as they seem. The clock is ticking and the zombies are swarming. Alma needs to know where to point her gun or else be torn into pieces.

 

Yeehaw! It's here! I'm excited. All the sites had it up quickly too. I'm also nervous. This is very different from Fearless. No romance or stuffed hippos! Just a scrawny cowgirl and zombies. Here's hoping that L'il Gal Al is well received and that she doesn't get eaten alive.