The Infamous Status Report

October sucked the big one. Not just in terms of sales, but because I've been incredibly sick most of the month.

I'm a AAA+ control-freak personality, and I was getting more and more behind on my schedule. When FDA-approved meds couldn't break up the chest congestion, I resorted to Grandpa's infamous Jack Daniels, lemon juice and honey mix. Disgusting way to waste good J.D., but it worked. Between it and D.H. insisting I take a few days break, I'm finally starting to feel a little better.

So what's the 4-1-1 on the business?

Well, first of all I missed my deadline for Seasons of Magick: Winter, which pisses me off. Hopefully, it will be uploaded this week. I'm also significantly behind on Blood Sacrifice. It sucks, but all I can do is still try to meet my December release plans.

August 13th started the autumn slide in sales. Why? Down here, that was literally the first week of school for most private schools. Most of the public schools started the following week.

Am I upset? No. Was it expected? Yes.

A lot of readers are in the same position I'm in. That is, minor children, numerous after-school activities, gearing up for the insanity of the fall holidays. Or as we used to say at the old Day Job, Hallowthanksmas, aka Silly Season. (And right now, I'm kind of glad I'm not there since Silly Season started last weekend.)

So I have no doubt that sales will pick up. The question is, will I have a sales surge over Thanksgiving week like I did last year with readers loading up on material for the trip to Grandma's house?

Total sales by month since June:
July - 608
August - 352
September - 234

So why the discrepancy between the July status report of 240 on the July 20th and now? There's the 50 Shades of Gray effect. My alter-ego's erotica took off during the second half of July. I'm also getting a lot more sales from Apple, Kobo and Sony. But since I distribute to these retailers through Smashwords, there's a delay in reporting.

In fact, my monthly Apple sales are catching up with Amazon US. Right now, my sales at Barnes & Noble still outstrip every other retailer.

One thing I would stress to new indies is that you don't know exactly where your sales will come from until you actually get your books out there. Don't underestimate a possible outlet because it's not "cool."