My short story sales information to-date

Ok so here it goes!  I am baring all with regard to sales.  I plan on now regularly updating people on what kind of short story numbers I am selling.  Not as a means of bragging (they're hardly spectacular) but as a means of providing information.  Hopefully, after a few of these, I'll be able to start noticing trends.  But mostly, I want to help other short story authors by sharing my experiences.


For the sake of this experiment, I am only going to document my stories that are under 10,000 words (or the collections they're in).  If you would like to submit your own sales information, please do the same.


To give people an idea, I came to independent electronic publishing entirely new.  I've always liked writing but I never submitted my stuff to magazines or anything.  So unlike some authors, I did not already have a cult following when starting.  

I uploaded my first story to B&N in October of 2010.  I joined Amazon early November 2010.  When I first published, I released a 25,000 word novella, and a 1,000 word short story.  As I said before, I will only be documenting my stories that are under 10k as I think that is the more controversial area.

I put quite a bit of effort into advertising my short stories.  I pay for advertising as my budget permits.  I can afford to spend about $50 a month on advertising.  I don't always do that.  But if I do pay, that's what I spend.  So any Facebook/Google ads have gone for about two weeks tops at a time.

 As far as genres go, I like to experiment.  As of right now, most of my short stories could be classified under the sci-fi/fantasy category.  All of my individual short stories tend to average about 2,500 words.  Some shorter, some longer.  This, of course, could change over time.  As I said before, I will be including collections in this sales data.

Amazon sales data for past nine months (US, UK and DE sales combined)

-October 2010:
      # of short stories published:  0
      # of total sales:  0

-November 2010:
     # of short stories published:  1
     # of total sales:  0

-December 2010:
     # of short stories published:  3
     # of total sales:  0

-January 2011:
     # of short stories published:  3
     # of total sales:  3

-February 2011:
     # of short stories published:  6
     # of total sales:  12

-March 2011:
      # of short stories published:  7
      # of total sales:  15

-April 2011:
       # of short stories published:  7
       # of total sales:  13

-May 2011:
       # of short stories published:  10
       # of total sales:  13

-June 2011:
        # of short stories published:  12
        # of total sales:  18


B&N sales data for past nine months:

-October 2010:
      # of short stories published:  2
      # of total sales:  3

-November 2010:
     # of short stories published:  2
     # of total sales:  1

-December 2010:
     # of short stories published:  3
     # of total sales:  1

-January 2011:
     # of short stories published:  3
     # of total sales:  1

-February 2011:
     # of short stories published:  6
     # of total sales:  6

-March 2011:
      # of short stories published:  7
      # of total sales:  1

-April 2011:
       # of short stories published:  7
       # of total sales:  5

-May 2011:
       # of short stories published:  10
       # of total sales:  22

-June 2011:
        # of short stories published:  12
        # of total sales:  11

Comments

  1. AnonymousJuly 13, 2011 at 2:49 AM

    I have published both my short stories as individual eBooks and as a collection, 12 short 5000/7500 words. The collection has averaged 200 per month since upload with most of the sales in the UK. This month as an experiment I increased the price of the collection in the US to $4.99 when I uploaded the singles. In 2 weeks I have sold 8 singles and 9 of the collection at the new price. The 9 sales are the equivelent of 90 sales at 99c. I think people are looking at the singles at 99c and they are working out it is cheaper to buy the collection at $4.99. If this continues I will roll it out in the UK.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Alain GomezJuly 13, 2011 at 10:42 AM

    I find my singles sell better than my collections. One of my collections I have priced at 99 cents and contains three stories that are all also available at 99 cents. The standalones sell regularly. The collection, never.

    ReplyDelete

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