My first novel – historical military fiction – made it to the top 10 of 9 of Amazon's bestseller lists. Via my blog I share what I have learned while writing two more.
Sales of my novel have ceratinly slowed — only 307 copies this year — but that still allows me to donate $100, which my employeer (Dell Technologies) again generously matched. So the total is $200 for the year, which brings the total to $2,500.
If your’re curious, the other half of the money I collect goes to marketing, advertising to be precise. I have a very modest spend of about about $6 or $7 a month for pay per click advertising with Amazon.
Not a huge donation, but more than I thought my little book would ever do, and happy to help.
This morning, after rolling out of bed on this 4th of July, I saw that my first novel had gotten its 100th review on Goodreads and its 66th review on Amazon. From the same person, and only 4 stars, nonetheless it was exciting to hit 100 on Goodreads. That is just one of many metrics that can describe my book’s success in the market.
Sales of my novella of been good. The story is about young men in combat during the Vietnam War, and how they live with themselves and each other years later. As I promised, I am donating half of what I collect from sales to organizations that help our veterans.
When I published my short novel about combat in the Vietnam War and how it affected the participants, I promised to donate half of the proceeds to organizations that help our injured veterans. At the time I published it, I was hoping to sell 1 copy a day at a price of $.99. It was my first publication, so I wanted to keep my expectations in check.
When you sell through Amazon, if you price below $2.99 you only get to keep 35% of the sales price. Borrows through Kindle Unlimited and sales of my paperback are at different rates. So there are a variety of formulas in play, and I’ve changed the price of my book a few times. But in short, I was expecting to only collect about $125 dollars for the year, of which I’d give half to such organizations.
The great news is that my book has sold far better than expected — actually cracking the top 10 of several of Amazon’s Bestseller lists — and I’ve stabilized on a price of $1.49.
In short, I’ve now collected over $500 in revenue in less than 9 months. Though my total production costs (editing, some modest advertising, etc.) are close to $600, I’m keeping my promise and sending half of all I collect to organizations that benefit our Vietnam War veterans. Above is a screenshot of the first check.
In the grand scheme of things it is not a fortune, but I’m sure every dollar helps, and there will be more coming. When I hit a total of $600 collected, I’ll send another $150 check.
If you want to help me raise more money for our Vietnam veterans, please buy a copy of my book — which is dedicated to our veterans — and forward this link to those who care because there are soldiers who still need our help. This check went to the WWP, but that is not the only veterans group I’ll donate to over time.
Apocalypse Now is one of the “best” movies ever made, in my opinion (acknowledging that “best” is in the eye of the beholder, though there are a lot of people that think this). More than that, it is a brilliantly told story, albeit the storytelling is via a movie. Of course, it is a retelling of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. In case you have missed it, the story is about the descent of one man into insanity to confront another who has already descended to that place. Who knew there is an exceptionally thoughtful review of it on YouTube?
Hey everyone. Wanted to let you know that I have just released a video trailer for my novel of the Vietnam War. Titled Youth In Asia, you can read more about it here. Obviously the intent is to help market my book. So give it a look and let me know what you think and if you think it will help promote my novel. Thanks! Allen
