This post is part of my series on “Publishing a Cozy Mystery.” This series isn’t meant to tell you how you have to go about it and dictate what’s right or wrong. Instead, I’m sharing my personal journey from writing my initial draft to seeing my first book, Murder at the Marina, be released. I’ll talk about the good, bad, and the ugly. And trust me, there was plenty of ugly along the way.
Last time I talked to you about what distribution channels I used. This time, I’m going to share details about the release Murder at the Marina, in numbers.
While some people look at stats for the first 30 days after a release (the supposed 30-day cliff), I decided to make things easier on myself from a reporting perspective and look at the numbers from the release date of June 21, 2018 to the end of July 2018. That’s roughly a six week period.
What numbers are important?
So, what numbers did I look at and why? The obvious one that I was interested in was the total number of sales. Now, this may disappoint some of you, but I’m not planning on sharing that here. What I can say is that my expectations were greatly exceeded, which is in large part due to all of the wonderful people who helped spread the word for me on social media. Thank you!
The other numbers I spent time poring over had to do with sales by format and where books were sold. I also got a kick out of checking out what I like to call my “popularity” stats. Let’s dive into the numbers, shall we?
Sales by Format
I’ve mentioned before how surprised I am at how many people purchased the paperback version of Murder at the Marina. If you look at the chart below, you’ll see that 10% of people bought paperbacks and 90% bought ebooks.
On a whim, I also created a large print version and, while I didn’t sell any of those during June and July, I have sold a few during the past month. (If you’re interested in learning more about large print, I found Joanna Penn’s article on the subject helpful.)
Despite the learning curve involved in terms of book formatting and set-up on Amazon and Ingram Spark, I’m really glad I decided to publish hard copies in addition to ebooks.
Ebook Sales by Retailer
Because I decided to go wide instead of be exclusive with Amazon, I was really interested in seeing how many books I sold on non-Amazon sites. No surprise that the bulk of the sales were on Amazon (88%), but I was pleased to see that I sold a few on Barnes & Noble, Apple iBooks, Kobo, Google Play, and Overdrive.
Hopefully, the percentage of non-Amazon sales will increase over time.
NOTE: The percentages below don’t add up due to rounding.
Ebook Sales by Country
I love the idea of knowing that people around the world are reading my book, so I was thrilled to see that 17% of my sales came from outside the States. Most of them came from the United Kingdom, followed by Australia, Canada, and EU countries. And I’d love to know who is reading Murder at the Marina in Japan and Brazil.
Popularity Stats
Come on, admit it, sometimes you compare yourself to other people, don’t you? You like to see how you rank against others. Or is that just me?
In any case, it’s a bad idea to get too caught up in this as a writer. Reading all of the success stories out there about folks who are top of the charts, pulling in the big bucks, or have a million 5-star reviews can get a tad depressing. It’s enough to almost make you forget what the real joy of writing is about—having fun creating imaginary worlds, people, and situations.
But, I confess, I did check my Amazon popularity stats during my release. Like where Murder at the Marina ranked on the Hot New Releases list. It peaked at #81 in the Cozy Animal Mystery sub-category at one point. (The lists are updated hourly.) We can all thank Mrs. Moto, the best clue-finding feline in the business for that.
Amazon’s Author Central lets you check how popular your book is compared to others. The Kindle edition of Murder at the Marina ranked #30,571 on release day, peaked at #25,456 a week late, and has been on a roller coaster ride ever since. When some sales comes through, it perks back up, when sales are quiet, it plummets down the ranks.
To be honest, I wouldn’t expect to do great in Amazon rankings due to the fact that I’m not exclusive to Amazon and in Kindle Unlimited. From my understanding, pages reads and increased visibility in the Amazon store can do a lot to boost your position on the charts.
But it’s not just about your books, Amazon gets personal and give you an author rank. My highest ranking (#38,745) was actually when Murder at the Marina was on pre-order. It stayed above the 100k mark for a couple of weeks after the release, then tumbled down the charts after that.
If you’re an author, what kinds of numbers do you track? If you’re a reader, do you pay attention to book rankings?
Other posts in my “Publishing a Cozy Mystery” series:
Cover Design | Draft #743 | Beta Readers | Traditional vs. Self-Publishing | Editing | Going Wide or Amazon Exclusive | Ebooks, Print, or Both | Book Formatting| Distribution Channels | Book Release in Numbers | Blog Tours | ARCs (Advance Reader Copies) | Large Print Books
A dilapidated sailboat for your anniversary—not very romantic. A dead body on board—even worse.
If you’d like to pick up your own copy (ebook, paperback, and large print), you can do so at your favorite online retailer:
Amazon (US) | Amazon (CA) | Amazon (UK) | Amazon (AU) | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Apple iBooks | Google Play | Book Depository | Books-A-Million
You can also add Murder at the Marina to your to-read list on Goodreads and subscribe to my newsletter here.
This all sounds very familiar, ha! I think my Amazon sales are probably more around 65% of my sales now, but they have been as high as 90% or more. You’re very right–it does take some time to get traction at other retailers, but it’s worth it. My sales on Ingram are particularly good now. Sounds like the release went really well: congratulations! 🙂
Thanks so much, Elizabeth! I was pleased with how the release went and I certainly learned a ton in the process. I think going wide is definitely a long game, but I think it will be worth it in the end.
As a reader, i read what friends recommended, or what my friends write. Seldom do i just go by how popular an author is.
Getting recommendations from friends is a great way to go.
I’ve searched some of those numbers, but not others. I have no idea where in the world my books are selling. I’ll have to check.
Nice post on book sales!
You should check and see who’s reading your book where – I bet it would be interesting 🙂
Thanks for sharing your numbers. I do keep track of my Amazon numbers, and every now and then, I peek at the other retailers. The vast majority of my sales are on Amazon too, and I would consider putting all my books exclusively on Amazon. I like their freebie days because they do help give a boost to ratings. While I don’t like giving any one place a monopoly, it does make good business sense for me to publish just with Amazon. As a reader, I don’t care what a book’s ranking is if I’m interested in it. I think those rankings are more to torture us authors!
Amazon freebie days are something I wish I could take advantage of. It seems like a really good promo tool. I agree rankings are a form of torture 🙂
Very interesting to read all the numbers. But, I admit I am one of your readers who was also curious in your total numbers of sales. 🙂 Maybe you are comfortable answering this question: have you been able to get the money back that you invested in order to create and publish Murder at the Marina?
Ah, good question! If we ever meet in person one of these days (and I hope we do), then I’ll reveal all to you 🙂