Since my last post on Kindle categories and book royalties got some great traffic, I figured I would do an update on my numbers and thoughts about my six history titles available on the Kindle. I'm actually considering leaving two of my articles in KDP Select. I don't care about the free promos, I like getting money for borrows. This money is significant when one borrow usually ends up being the equivalent of 3-6 sales (depending on the article) and it boosts my popularity and ranking on Amazon (and they have over half the e-book market according to most estimates). The prices and sales numbers below are current as of 7/12/12.
CONSTANTINE: THE EMPEROR OF TOLERANCE
U.S. Sales 17
U.K. Sales 16
KDP Borrows 3
$1.99
Constantine has remained a steady seller even though it is trending down. It continues to sell a few copies a month in the U.S. and U.K. plus a borrow or two. I plan on leaving it in the KDP Select program (meaning it will stay exclusive to Amazon) for a while longer - at least until it stops pulling in borrows.
CARIBBEAN PIRACY: PIRATES AND PRIVATEERS
U.S. Sales 9
U.K. Sales 0
DE Sales 1
KDP Borrows 1
$0.99
While I'm still not a huge fan of free promos, a two day promo definitely kick started sales on this article. I had about 200 free downloads over two days and then I started selling one or two a day. It just got its first borrow today and I'm thinking about leaving this article in KDP Select as well. This article has also conquered the small category of Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > History > Americas > Caribbean & West Indies several times. It has been ranked as high as #1 under Hot New Releases in the category and has made it as high as #7 in the Top 100 for the same category:
PRAYER: ARCHANGELS AND INTERCESSORY BEINGS
U.S. Sales 2
U.K. Sales 1
KDP Borrows 0
$0.99
This article was actually written for my Philosophy of Religion class. Another kid in the class wrote on the same topic but it was a much weaker version and presentation and he only used about 2/3 of the sources that I did (while all of his sources were used in my version). Being a history major gave me a great advantage any time I had to write a paper for other subjects because I knew how to prove my points with lots of primary and secondary sources. It was fun exploring the Apocrypha, Pseudopigrapha, the Old and New Testaments, and other texts to write this article. I wish the story of Joseph and Aseneth was more well-known within Christendom because I enjoyed reading it. I'll probably be posting it on the Nook and Smashwords (which distributes to Apple, Kobo, Sony, etc.) as soon as my term is up with KDP Select.
LUTHER STANDING BEAR: ASSIMILATION
U.S. Sales 2
U.K. Sales 0
KDP Borrows 0
$0.99
I wrote this for a history class called American Indians in the Twentieth Century. It was a great course to take because we rarely discuss Indians after the Colonization Period in the United States. They had a great effect on the country long after that. This article explores Luther Standing Bear and his journey to Carlisle. When he was young, the United States took Indians and shipped them off to boarding schools to educate them. Luther Standing Bear turned around and used his education to fight for Indian rights, the preservation of Indian culture, and many of the points that became a part of the Indian New Deal under FDR. This article will probably be going to the Nook and Smashwords as soon as my term with KDP Select is up.
THE MORMON THEOCRACY
U.S. Sales 0
U.K. Sales 0
KDP Borrows 0
$0.99 / Free
This is my most recent publication. I don't really want anyone to buy it. It's currently priced at $0.99 on Amazon but it isn't enrolled in KDP Select and its available for free on Smashwords. Here's the link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/178031 . I wanted to use this article as a loss leader. I wanted to make it free on all e-book platforms and have it be a gateway to my other history articles. Amazon doesn't want to make it easy on me. I've been trying to get them to price match it down to free for over a week now. Three e-mails later they suggested I enroll it in KDP Select. I don't want it free 5 days every 90; I want it to be free all the time. They have the power to do this but they probably won't until it's up on Apple, Sony, etc. as a free book. I'm still waiting for Smashwords to finish reviewing it so it can send it off to all of them. It'll probably be a few weeks. This is only a 5 page article discussing a brief history of the Mormon theocracy in early Utah. I don't expect anyone to buy it - just wait until it's free on Amazon or grab it from Smashwords (they have almost every possible e-book format available there).
A COLLECTION OF HISTORY: FIVE HISTORY ARTICLES
U.S. Sales 0
U.K. Sales 0
KDP Borrows 0
$4.00
This collection contains five history articles: four that are available on Amazon and one from my blog. The collection includes:
-Constantine: Emperor of Tolerance
-Prayer: Archangels and Intercessory Beings
-Luther Standing Bear: Assimilation
-Gateway to the Vikings: L'Anse aux Meadows
-Caribbean Piracy: Pirates and Privateers
You save $1.00 when you buy them all together and you get a free article on Vikings that's up on my blog currently. This is the only title I currently have available that gives me 70% royalties. I made the collection at the request of a fan who has purchased every other history article I've written. If you want to help me out, buying this collection would be the way to do it. No one has so far.
So there you go. That's how I'm doing in the history article publishing arena. It's been a lot of fun so far going back to edit these articles to make them more interesting for the average Amazon and e-book customer. Feel free to download samples of any of them (available on Amazon) and purchase them if you really find them interesting.
