Book Sales Breakdown 2013

One thing that I think differentiates indie authors / publishers and the trad. publishers is their willingness to share data. Indie authors share data. There have been multiple examples of a traditional author posting terms of their contract or how much money they made and then immediately having that information pulled by their publisher. I've posted my sales numbers for a few specific titles a few times now and I thought I would take it a step further, by giving everyone a review of my second year as a self-published author. So here's my book sales breakdown for 2013 (from most sold in 2013 to least and I'm including Amazon borrows as ebook sales - all the book covers are linked to the ebook on Amazon if you find something you want to check out):


 

Constantine: The Emperor of Tolerance



Ebook Sales: 44
Audio Book Sales: 56
Current Price: $2.99
Books Sold 2013: 100
Total Sold: 167












This 30 page article on Constantine, while it still has no reviews, always sells without me having to do much. It sold more ebooks in 2012 than it did in 2013 but it made me a lot more money in 2013. I gradually raised its price over two years from $0.99 to $1.99 and then finally to $2.99. It seems to sell about the same number of copies at $2.99 as it did at $1.99 but I make a 70% royalty instead of 35%. For those of you who don't want to do the math, one copy sold at $2.99 is roughly equal to three sold at $1.99 and six sold at $0.99. I pretty much never offer this as a freebie anymore because it sells fine on its own. I also made all of my history books available as paperbacks but those just became available this year.


Caribbean Piracy: Pirates and Privateers



Ebook Sales: 16
Audio Book Sales: 40
Current Price: $1.99
Books Sold 2013: 56
Total Sold: 87












This didn't sell near as many ebooks this year as it did in 2012 but it sold the second most audio books for any title I currently have available in audio and that was enough to put it in second place for 2013. It's a shorter article than Constantine (about half the length) so I don't really want to experiment with the price above $1.99. This started as a $0.99 article but I changed it to $1.50 for most of last year. I brought it up to $1.99 this year and it's already had some sales, so I think I'll leave it there and see how it does.


Explanations and Advice for the Tech Illiterate



Ebook Sales: 23
Audio Book Sales: 21
Current Price: $1.99
Books Sold 2013: 44
Total Sold: 57












Explanations and Advice for the Tech Illiterate took off after being featured in one of my friend's blogs. I wrote it after being asked over and over by Geek Squad customers where they could learn the basics about today's technology and get some good advice. I didn't know of a good book that covers that kind of stuff at a reasonable price, so I wrote this over the course of a few days. It slumped in sales a little after it's initial explosion but then it started selling as an audio book with little to no promotion. It comes in at #3 for audio book sales for 2013 which was enough to bring it to #3 overall for 2013 books sold.


Horror Stories From A Computer Tech



Ebook Sales: 29
Not available in other formats
Current Price: $0.99
Total Sold: 29













Horror Stories From A Computer Tech was written after JA Konrath issued a challenge on his blog. He said that if you could write a book, make your own cover, edit, and essentially get an entire short ebook ready to go in under 8 hours that he would feature it on his blog. This collection of seven stories from my time as an in-home computer tech qualified. I decided to go under a pen name in case I need to separate geeky books that I write in the future. I like keeping everything under the Geekus Maximus name short and $0.99. The only exception I'll make to that is if I bundle several Geekus Maximus books together as one. This ebook sold the second most ebooks for me in 2013 but it ultimately ends up in fourth place since it isn't available in any other formats. I am considering an audio book though (which I may even narrate myself.)


Gateway to the Vikings: L'Anse aux Meadows



Ebook Sales: 14
Audio Book Sales: 6
Current Price: $1.99
Books Sold 2013: 20
Total Sold: 20












This article wasn't available in 2012. At least not on Amazon. I had this up as a free read on my blog for a long time. Eventually, it made its way in to my top 10 viewed blog posts of all time. When it started getting traffic like that on my blog, I made a cover for it and threw it up on Amazon as a $0.99 article after taking most of the article down from my blog (so now all my blog has is a sample.) It did really well when I briefly offered it as a freebie until someone hit it with a 2 star review, claiming that the cover looks great but that I stole everything else from Canada's website and Wikipedia. That's not even close to true, but everyone is entitled to leave whatever review they want. Sales pretty much halted at that point but a few audio books were sold even in to December. I may eventually make this free and ask that everyone who enjoys it leaves a nice review so that it doesn't sit at 2 stars overall because I think it could start selling again after some positive feedback from reviewers.


Traveling Asia: The Philippines



Ebook Sales: 11
Paperback Sales: 7
Current Price: $3.99
Books Sold 2013: 18
Total Sold: 18












All of my world travel books were released this year and the four of them did quite well. In overall sales, this one is at #6 but it actually made me more money than a few of the titles that sold more books. A $3.99 price point on an ebook brings in a higher royalty per sale than all of my history articles. This also sold more paperbacks than any other title I have available in paperback. Obviously the Philippines has a special place in my heart since I lived over there for two years and I visited again in 2010. This book has a lot of great pictures of the local food, tourist sites, souvenirs you can buy, etc. mixed with some Tagalog words. I initially started this one out at $2.99 but I found that it sells the same amount at $3.99 as it does at $2.99, so I decided to take the higher royalty. I don't know anyone who bought the paperback and two of the paperback sales came from Europe so I'll take that as a sign that this title will continue to sell well on its own.


The Mormon Theocracy



Ebook Sales: 5
Audio Book Sales: 9
Current Price: Free
Free U.S. Downloads: 1297
Total Sold: 14












This short book contains two articles: one on the Mormon theocracy that existed in Utah prior to its acceptance into the U.S. as a state and one on Gregory Palamas' views on God (he's an archbishop from the Eastern Orthodox Church.) It's been a totally free download since early 2012. How did I sell 5 copies of the ebook? I'm not sure to be honest. I guess there are some territories governed by Amazon.com since they don't have their own version of Amazon (like amazon.co.uk) and I guess in some of those places it isn't free. Some of the sales came from the U.K. where it currently isn't price matched to free, so that makes sense. It also sold the fourth most audio books. It has recovered since initially being hit with a one star review on Amazon from a reviewer who admits that she doesn't even read books that she reviews if she thinks they are "too short." Since that initial one star, it has received eight additional reviews and currently sits at a 3.6 / 5 stars. I may bring this back to a $1.99 price point and make a different history article my permanent free offering around March.


Jehovah and Hades: Books 1-3



Ebook Sales: 13
Not available in other formats
Current Price: $2.99
Total Sold: 16













This collection contains The Journals of Jacob and Hyde, Jehovah and Hades, and Jehovah and Hades: Federal Case. Currently, The Journals of Jacob and Hyde is free and the cost of the other two adds up to around $3.50. This collection is a way to get all three novellas in one and save a little money. I already have a feeling that this collection will do better this year as it is currently my best money maker for January 2014 (since free downloads of Jacob and Hyde have skyrocketed this year.) This actually tied sales of Jehovah and Hades for 2013, but I put it first because it made more money.


Jehovah and Hades



Ebook Sales: 13
Paperback Sales: 0
Current Price: $1.99
Total Sold: 24













This was the first book I self-published on Amazon. I know a lot of my friends and family have a copy of this one and its that support that helped me decide to write The Journals of Jacob and Hyde as a prequel. It's a novella at around 20,000 words so I will keep it at a $1.99 price point. It's already sold some copies in 2014. This is the one that started it all and, while I've grown a lot as a writer and a marketer since I released this, I'm still pretty proud of it. I might go back and modify some parts at some point in the future but I'm happy with it for now.


Prayer: Archangels and Intercessory Beings



Ebook Sales: 7
Audio Book Sales: 5
Current Price: $1.99
Books Sold 2013: 12
Total Sold: 22












This short article was hit with a one star review at the same time that The Mormon Theocracy got one. It was from the same slightly crazy lady. She didn't read this one either. It has since received a well-thought out three star review which I appreciate, but that leaves it at a 2 star rating overall. I think this may be the article that I make a permanent freebie in March to replace The Mormon Theocracy. Maybe that will pull in some more reasonable reviews. It has sold already in 2014 though, which is promising.


Luther Standing Bear: Assimilation



Ebook Sales: 10
Audio Book Sales: 2
Current Price: $1.99
Books Sold 2013: 12
Total Sold: 20












This article actually tied Prayer: Archangels and Intercessory Beings for 2013. They came close to the same sales totals in 2012 as well. Like the other history articles, I occasionally run free promos on this one and it will see a mild sales spike afterwards but I can mostly count on it to sell itself at about one copy a month. I don't promote it much, it's a fairly niche subject. I still think it's a good read though, especially if you want Luther Standing Bear's ideas and beliefs summarized.


Traveling the U.S.: Hawaii



Ebook Sales: 9
Paperback Sales: 2
Current Price: $3.99
Books Sold 2013: 11
Total Sold: 11












This photo based travel book, like Traveling Asia: The Philippines, actually made me a lot more money than most of the books that sold more copies than it did in 2013. The cover features a photo I took of a wholphin (a whale / dolphin hybrid.) It covers a lot of great places to visit including the USS Arizona memorial, Hanauma bay, the Polynesian cultural center, and more. It's already on the sales boards for 2014 as well.


Traveling Asia: Tokyo, Taipei, and Hong Kong



Ebook Sales: 8
Paperback Sales: 0
Current Price: $3.99
Books Sold 2013: 8
Total Sold: 8












This travel photo book features a lot of really cool sites from Tokyo, Taipei, and Hong Kong but may be less useful as a travel guide for a specific location (since it covers three locations.) It does feature pictures of the Temple of the 47 Ronin though, which I still think is one of the coolest stories I've ever heard. This was the only one of my travel books that didn't sell any paperbacks and I'm a little surprised by that. I've seen it in paperback. It's awesome.


Traveling the U.S.: East Coast History



Ebook Sales: 4
Paperback Sales: 2
Current Price: $3.99
Books Sold 2013: 6
Total Sold: 6












This is, by far, the most in depth I've covered so many different locations in a single travel book. I released this shortly after our east coast vacation last summer, so it didn't have as much time to sell books last year. It's the newest in my world travel series. Featured locations include: the Capitol, the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the White House, Arlington National Cemetery, Mount Vernon, Monticello, Jamestown (with excavation photos), Gettysburg, Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, the 9/11 Memorial, and more. If you don't have a copy yet, you should get one. It's a steal at $3.99.


Minor Demons



Ebook Sales: 5
Paperback Sales: 0
Current Price: $3.99
Total Sold: 5













This is my first ever full-length fiction novel. It took me 13 months to write (obviously I took breaks and worked on other projects) and it came in at around 72,500 words. I'm already working on the sequel. It was just released in December, so I didn't expect it to sell a ton of copies. I based a lot of the demons on actual demons from Christian and Judaic demonology and Hell is loosely based on Dante's Inferno.


The Journals of Jacob and Hyde



Ebook Sales: 4
Current Price: Free
Free U.S. Downloads: 3538
Total Sold: 15













The Journals of Jacob and Hyde was my only permanent freebie on the fiction side for 2013. The ebook sales came from countries where it still wasn't price matched down to free and from some Amazon.com sales that I'm still not sure I understand. It's already been downloaded more than 300 times worldwide in 2014, so that already looks promising. My main goal with this title is to hook readers on the series so they purchase Jehovah and Hades or the three novella combo. It seems to do that decently well, as I make more money off of the three books now than I did when Jacob and Hyde had a price attached to it. It's currently being made into an audio book as well.


A Collection of History: Five History Articles



Ebook Sales: 3
Not available in other formats
Current Price: $5.99
Total Sold: 5













This was made in an attempt to give those readers who want all of my history articles, minus The Mormon Theocracy, in a bundle that saves quite a bit of money. Since it covers so many subjects, it sits in some very broad and general categories on Amazon. While I doubt it will ever be a huge success, I'll take the few extra sales it brings in yearly. I'll admit that I've thought about taking it down, but I figured I'd just leave it out there for now.


Jehovah and Hades: Federal Case



Ebook Sales: 3
Not available in other formats
Current Price: $1.50
Total Sold: 4













While I think most people who read Jacob and Hyde and want to continue with the series will purchase the three book combo, they have the option of buying Jehovah and Hades and then Jehovah and Hades: Federal Case. This one is only about 10,000 words (so its half the length of Jehovah and Hades) but its still a good short read.


Geek of Legend: The Elvish Screwdriver



Ebook Sales: 1
Not available in other formats
Current Price: $0.99
Total Sold: 1













This is the only other book published under my Geekus Maximus pen name. It's about a computer tech who enters a world of goblins, trolls, dwarves, talking horses, etc. to fix their broken technology. It's around 8,000 words and I wrote it over a weekend. The cover I made for it initially was pretty terrible, so I paid my go-to graphics artist to make the cover it has currently (which I think is a lot better.) It already has 2 sales in 2014, so at least it already doubled its sales total from 2013.


If you read this entire thing, congrats. I have 20 books and I broke down all of them (well... all of them except End of the Road which I only have a short story in) so I'm betting it took a while to get through. For some final numbers:

2012 Books Sold: 157 (156 ebooks, 1 paperback)
2013 Books Sold: 372 (222 ebooks, 139 audio books, 11 paperbacks)

In 2013, I also made over 5x what I made as an author in 2012. January of 2014 is already off to a strong start for ebooks, but audiobooks and paperbacks have kind of limped along. I have projects in both formats that will hopefully boost sales. My goal for 2013 was 365 sales (an average of one a day for the year) and I made it. :-) I would love to hit at least 500 total book sales for the year of 2014. You know how you can help me reach that goal. Go buy my books. :-P If you already have and you enjoyed them, please consider leaving me a review or feel welcome to let me know what you think about any one of my twenty self-published books. I always love hearing from readers and it always surprises me how many people I know that buy my books and actually like them, but don't say anything to me about it until a long while after reading them. I love hearing from people who have read my books, so please feel free to let me know if you have.

The Wise Men Weren't Christians But They're Still Part Of Christmas

Last year around Christmas, I blogged about Josephus' account of Jesus. That seemed to be pretty interesting for most people that read my blog, since it's the second most popular post I've ever written and it still gets views throughout the year but gets heavily visited around Christmas.


 

This year I want to talk about the "three wise men" from Matthew's account of Jesus' birth. Here's their part in the birth of Jesus (or you can skip down to where I paraphrase the 12 verses below):

"After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem ² and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
³ When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. ⁴ When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. ⁵ “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

⁶ “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
    are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
    for out of you will come a ruler
    who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

⁷ Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. ⁸ He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”

⁹ After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰ When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. ¹¹ On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.¹² And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route." (Matthew 2: 1-12, New International Version)

They saw a new star that denoted the birth of a Messiah and they followed it to its source. Upon arriving in King Herod's domain, they asked Herod where the child was to be born. Herod consulted with the chief priests and they were able to correctly tell the Magi that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem. The wise men then followed the star until they found the child in a house. They fell down at the feet of the Infant King and worshiped him, presenting him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. God then warned them in a dream not to return to Herod, so they returned to their country using an alternate route and lived out their lives in their own country.

What does all this have to do with anything? Well, what most people don't know is that the Magi, or wise men, were Zoroastrians.They were followers of the Prophet Zoroaster (and you can read more about their prophet here: Zoroaster. They were not even Christians the way we define Christians today. Guess what? I don't know of a nativity scene that's complete without the wise men. Let's recap:

-They knew of a prophecy about Christ's birth
-They left their homes to find the Messiah
-When they found him, they kneeled and presented him with gifts that were fit for a King
-After worshiping Christ, God spoke to them in a dream and told them to return to their country via a different route

So in reality, they received two honors that few people have received in this life. They were gifted the chance to worship the Immortal Christ in person. They were spoken to by God in a dream. Does that actually make them Christians?

Here's what I believe. We focus too much throughout the year on excluding people. These people don't belong to this group that I'm in because of this. I don't think they would fit in. Those people aren't Christians like I'M a Christian. It's really annoying. Christianity should be a religion of inclusion. Stop looking at your neighbors like they have the plague. Stop with the jealous thoughts and feelings that run your life. Stop looking down on others who may have received honors from God that you can't even comprehend.

Merry Christmas and happy whatever else doesn't offend you. For me, I would love to kneel at the feet of Christ with the Magi, the shepherds, and the little drummer boy. I wouldn't be thinking horrible things about them because they, like me, just want to worship the Son of God.

Online Donors Raise $100,000 So Orlando, The Seeing-Eye Dog, Can Stay With His Best Friend

I wanted to post something since its getting pretty late into December and I haven't blogged since last month. I thought about writing about the whole Phil Robertson / Duck Dynasty controversy over what he said, but that actually sounds kind of boring to me. Here's what I think. Phil is a celebrity because his family makes duck calls really well. He also runs a very successful business. So unless Phil is talking about duck calls or running a business, I really don't care what his opinion is. Everyone has a right to say whatever they want, but I don't understand how everyone can get into a heated debate over what celebrities think. It's not like they have any knowledge on most subjects beyond what an ordinary person would have.


 

On to something more important. I don't usually cover news stories on here, but it's close to Christmas and I really liked this story.

The above photo is a picture of Cecil Williams, a blind man, and his seeing-eye dog of eight years, Orlando. Orlando the Labrador is one of the most badass dogs ever. Not only did the dog go above and beyond what he was required to do, he did something very few humans would even attempt.

On December 17, 2013, Cecil fainted and fell onto the train tracks of the subway. Orlando went down to save him. After an unsuccessful attempt at trying to get Cecil off the train tracks, Orlando stayed there with him and licked his face as the train passed over both of them. They both escaped with only minor injuries.

Orlando is nearly 11 and that means he's only a short time away from retirement as a seeing-eye dog. Cecil wanted to keep him as a pet, but didn't feel he had the money to do so responsibly. This is the kind of thing that catches the attention of the internet. A GoFundMe project has raised nearly $38,000 and an Indiegogo campaign has pulled in around $67,500 so that Cecil can get a new seeing-eye dog but still keep Orlando as a pet.

Normally I think that these ridiculous amounts of money raised after a story goes viral are kind of... well... ridiculous. In this case, I don't think so. Yes, the money was raised so Cecil can keep Orlando as a pet. In reality, Orlando went above and beyond the call of duty and he deserves to retire and live out his days with his best friend, Cecil. Will that require $100,000? I doubt it. The extra money will be going to Guiding Eyes for the Blind, an organization that trains seeing-eye dogs and then gives them to blind people at no charge. They were also the group that initially gave Orlando to Cecil.

So Orlando, you are a badass dog. I hope you have a great time as a retired badass. I'm glad that you get to stay with Cecil, the owner that clearly means more to you than your own life.