Sell 20,000 Ebooks In 2 Months

At last, here is the first part of the series How To Sell 20,000 Ebooks in 2 Months. Actually, it took 4 days longer to sell that first 20,000, but I decided to exercise some literary license so the long title wouldn't be even longer.

To the left, you'll see the covers of my 4 ebooks, displayed in the order in which I published them. They are: Just One Look, The Trouble With Love, Still The One, and Jane (I'm Still Single) Jones.

Each book is priced at $.99, and they are all available on all the various countries' Kindle Shops, Nook, Smashwords, XinXii, iTunes, as well as on various bloggers sites that are Amazon Affiliates. More about these books later.

How Did I Sell So Many Ebooks?

I'm tempted to say, "I haven't a clue." I say this because I'm still kind of stunned that my ebooks have taken off the way they have even though I spent 9 months of analysis and research into ebooks prior to publishing the first one.

I have no pretensions about these books -- they're pure escapism that provide a fun, entertaining read. Yes, they're well-written for their genre, but they are not deep books. They're books designed to make you feel good and, hopefully, laugh, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

They have much in common with modern romantic comedy movies like those starring Katherine Heigl. Sure, they have some old-fashioned "home truths," but, for the most part, I describe the sexy, funny romances I write as "a little vacation from reality via the pages of a book."

However, that's not what you want to hear. You also don't want to hear another truth, "I was lucky." Why? Because giving good fortune the responsibility for success means it's something you can't duplicate. No one can tell another how to "be lucky."

I want to give you something you can use to help you find this kind of success. This is a long post today. I'm going to list my Golden Rules for Ebook Success toward the bottom. Then, I'm going to break each one down into its components. Next Monday, look for Golden Rule #1.

My Ebook Cred

I published my first ebook 2 months ago. Just One Look was previously print pubbed. I loved being able to give it the cover it deserved. I think the cover helped get it moving. It went on and off the top list during the first 30 days before finally settling on and spending 27 days on the Top 100 Paid Bestseller List. It slid off this week, but it's still on all the Kindle Contemporary Romance Bestseller lists.

Two weeks later, I pubbed the second ebook The Trouble With Love, to which I'd sold serial rights for a website that used it as a very successful hook to pull in visitors. It was never print pubbed because NY editors and agents said it didn't have a strong marketing hook.

This is the first book in a series Texas One Night Stands. I'll be publishing the second book in the series, Romeo and Judy Anne, in July. These are much longer books than the other short, fun reads. By the way, that so-called lack of a strong marketing hook doesn't seem to be holding it back with readers. It too is on Kindle Contemporary Romance Bestseller list.

My 3rd ebook Still The One, previously print pubbed, went live about May 11, and it's another Kindle Contemporary Romance Bestseller . Again, great cover.

My 4th ebook Jane (I'm Still Single) Jones (also formerly print published) went live over Memorial weekend and took off faster than the previous 3. Today, it's #62 in Kindle Store / Kindle eBooks / Fiction / Genre Fiction / Romance / Contemporary and #72 in Books / Romance / Contemporary.

Books 2 through 4 improve in ranking each day, and I hope each will make it onto the Top 100 Paid list also. With each succeeding book, sales started faster and the existing books showed an uptick also.

All 4 books are starting to sell well in the UK, and I have even made sales in Germany. The first 3 are in the Smashwords Premium Catalog and will be distributed to the other major ebook outlets like the Apple bookstore, Sony, Kobo, Diesel, and smartphones via Scrollmotion. The 4th is still pending approval but will be there too eventually.

Joan's Golden Rules for Ebooks

Isn't that a lovely pretentious title? *VBG* Actually, my rules are things you've already read from Joe Konrath, John Locke, and so many other successful ebook authors. The only thing different is my spin on them. When I first started distilling my thoughts, I had 3 rules, but I've added to them as the weeks have passed, and I've gained more experience in seeing how things sell.

I read dozens of successful ebooks in every genre, and I researched the subject of ebook writing, publishing, and marketing exhaustively for nearly a year before I published Just One Look.

When writing about "rules" -- either real ones or those I'm "creating" -- I'm always reminded of what W. Somerset Maugham said about rules for writing a novel. In a speech he gave to eager students, he stomped up on stage, glared at the audience, and growled: "There are 3 rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are."

So don't take what I say as gospel. Use it as a guideline and try what I, and others, recommend. See if it works for you. I'm going to explain how I interpret each of these elements because I've already learned that I can tell someone one of these foundations of ebook success, and that person can come away with an entirely different idea of what it means. Or how he implements the rule just doesn't work because he perhaps doesn't have a good grasp of what constitutes good cover art for example.

Let's assume that you have a finished book, ready to go. I know you've read all these rules before on other authors' blogs, but here are the 8 elements I'll cover:

1. Get educated.
2. Write a business plan.
3. Choose cover art wisely.
4. Write professional ad copy.
5. Choose price wisely.
6. Give a smart sample.
7. Write a good book.
8. Customize Marketing and Promotion.

When I told my friend Cynthia Wicklund, author of The Garden Series, about this blog series I intended to write, she said: "(you) had the perfect storm of events--great cover, excellent promotion, pricing, appealing story--I could go on. I think luck has a hand in it as well. Most Indies will tell you that (your) near-instant success is highly unusual unless you have a famous name."

Cindy is right about the luck, but I like to think luck is when opportunity meets preparedness. The opportunity was there because of the digital publishing platforms, and I did all I could to be prepared.

Join me Monday for Joan's Golden Rule #1: Get educated.

Takeaway Truth

I invested time, attention, and money into learning about every aspect of ebooks. I've distilled my thoughts into 8 Golden Rules. What I did, and how I did it, is something that can be replicated. In other words, if I did it, so can you.

27 comments:

  1. Way to go, Joan!

    Sorry to hear about your battle with strep, and I hope you're feeling much better.

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  2. So glad for you, Joan!

    And so glad to hear you're feeling better!

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  3. Fantastic article, Joan! Can't wait for the next installment.

    I too am glad you're feeling better.

    Cindy Wicklund

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  4. Joan, When I posted my mystery, Harbinger of Evil, on XinXii, I was tickled to see you were the featured writer!
    Congratulations! Elizabeth Simmons (Meb Bryant)

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  5. I'm so thrilled for your success, Joan. Here's hoping some of that luck rubs off on the rest of us. ;-)

    Congratulations on your phenomenal sale. I'm sure they will continue to soar.

    Jennifer Bray-Weber

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  6. Hey, Suzan, thanks! It's been a tough 2 weeks, but I think the antibiotics finally worked. In fact, today's the first day my throat hasn't felt as if someone sliced it from the inside out.

    Are you working on your second Magick book?

    Joan

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  7. TessStJohn: Thanks! I appreciate it. Really appreciate a return to good health!

    Joan

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  8. Cynthia Wicklund: Thanks, pal! How's that ms. coming along? Can't wait to read In the Garden of Deceit. Hurry please!

    Joan

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  9. Meb Bryant: thanks so much. I'm glad you posted Harbinger of Evil on XinXii. They're not doing too much, but I look at it as nothing ventured; nothing gained. They could become as big as Kindle. Plus they go to so many countries.

    You too will probably be selected as a featured writer there so keep me posted!

    Joan

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  10. jbrayweber: thank you! You're too kind. I'm like my pal mystery author Bill Crider. His favorite line is: "If I can do this, so can you."

    I believe that if you can replicate the factors of another's success, you too can be successful. That's why modeling successful practices can help others be successful.

    You know the crazy thing? With my first ebook, Just One Look, I've now sold almost 20K copies of just it. I've earned more in royalties in 2 months than I received when I signed the pub contract years ago. The book had a shelf life of 6 weeks then it was gone.

    Since ebooks have no shelf life, I'm hoping it will keep selling until the day I go to that big writer's library in the sky. *LOL*

    Joan

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  12. Great blog! Hope to learn a lot!

    http://www.amazon.com/Kickshaw-Candies-ebook/dp/B004U359HW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1301390943&sr=1-1

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  13. rkfinnell: Welcome! Thanks for visiting and for the compliment. We can all learn together.

    By the way, cute book title and cute little pic of you and your cat.

    Best wishes,
    Joan Reeves

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  14. Loved your post, Joan! Congratulations! It's clear you've worked hard, done your research and it's paying off. Thanks so much for sharing! Sorry to hear about the step. Yucky stuff! Glad you're on the mend. :)

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  15. Hey, Melissa, how are you?

    Thanks so much for dropping by.

    Best wishes,
    Joan

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  16. Joan, there is nothing "lucky" in anything I can see that you are doing. Every word and idea of yours I've ever read has been crafted beautifully, including things like forum posts!
    You're a truly gifted writer and a teacher to boot. Well done. I'm so glad to have made the connection with you and wish you every bit of the success that is surely coming your way.
    I'm a Joan Reeves fan!

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  17. Hi, Jason! Wow, what heady compliments to start my day.

    Actually, I'm a Jason Matthews fan. I'm reading your Get On Google Front Page and intend to put it into practice.

    Best wishes,
    Joan

    Oh, my, the things you do say, sir

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  18. Joan, I am a new indie author and have been doing a lot of studying on how to get noticed and how to sell on Amazon. I have purchased a lot of helpful books and have been working through them, step by step. I noticed that all of them talk about setting up a blog and I had no idea where to begin or how they actually worked. Then I stumbled across yours and ‘WOW’! Am I ever impressed. I will read more of your Sell 20,000 Ebooks in 2 Months as you post it. I can’t wait for you to continue. I love your books and yes some of your covers say it all.
    Thank you for taking the time to share.
    Robi Lynn

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  19. Robi,
    I'm sure Joan will have great advice on setting up a blog, and I just wanted to mention two great venues: Wordpress.com and Blogger.com. Both are free and the leaders in blogging. IMO, Blogger is a little easier to learn and use JavaScript widgets (SlingWords is a Blogger blog) while Wordpress is a bit more professional and does better with search engines, which is surprising since Blogger is owned by Google. I have one on each venue.
    I also wrote a book called How to Make Your Own Free Website: And Your Free Blog Too that can really help someone new to all of this.

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  20. Jason,
    Thank you for all that information. I am very interested in starting a blog and getting to know people from all over. I am a web designer and currently have two web sites that I created and manage for my sister and myself in my other passion, beading. I have my books on thir own but linked. I want to keep my childrens books separate from the adult books. I have a blog feature on my web site that is under my full name that I should figure out how to use. But if not, I most certainly will write all this information down and check it out.

    Thanks again,

    Robi Lynn,http://www.amazon.com/Emerald-Eyes-Secret-Series-ebook/dp/B00520IH6W

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  21. Robi Lynn, welcome! I think you'll be able to learn a lot here.

    If you want to learn about blogging, you can check out some of my past blogs on the subject under Internet Presence. I've been blogging for more than 6 years on multiple fronts.

    I'm in the process of compiling all my advice about successful blogging into an ebook. When the massive undertaking is completed, I'll post the ebook link on SlingWords. Perhaps that might help you overcome the intimidation factor of blogging.

    In the meantime, stay tuned! More great blog posts to come.

    Best wishes,
    Joan Reeves

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  22. Thank you for sharing your success, Joan. I have no name recognition, but I'm forging ahead anyway. I would like to talk to you about presenting to my writer's group. If you could email me at junefaver@yahoo.com I would appreciate it. I wish you continued great success.
    ~June

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  23. dragonfly, welcome. The great thing about ebooks is that you can build an audience without name recognition.

    Glad you dropped by. I'll email you in a bit.

    Best wishes,
    Joan

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  24. I'm looking forward to the next installment. Thanks so much for sharing, Joan. I'm just getting into epublishing the books for which I've gotten back my rights, that's four and one more pending, plus my formerly published ebook from the infancy days of epublishing. My computer-saavy hubby is off this summer for the first time; so, he's a great help. Me, I'm recovering from carpal tunnel surgery and just now being able to type. Hopefully, now I can do a bit of promotion because my four epubbed books are certainly not making any best-seller lists. Also, Joan, I was thrilled to see my quote on your cover (even if, rightfully so, my name wasn't uses!).

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  25. Welcome, Cheryl. So glad John is getting you into ebooks. Great covers by the way.

    Best wishes,
    Joan

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  26. I Love your Blog! I am dying to use the layout on my next blog. That is of course if you wouldn't mind to much. As a new EBook writer I am thrilled by your content as well.
    Applause Applause Applause

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  27. chris searl, welcome! Glad you like Sling Words.

    If you scroll to the bottom of the blog, you'll find the source of my blog template. I took the basic template and edited it though so you probably won't find the one that looks exactly like mine.

    I'm in the process of publishing an ebook WRITTEN WISDOM that is a compilation of the best of the blog's Written Wisdom category from 2005-2010.

    You might find this book 1 of my "A Best of Sling Words Collection" of interest.

    I'll be doing the same for other special interest categories to which I've posted in the last 5 years.

    I was halfway through the Kindle format when I got too sick to continue. Long story, but doctor will make it better I'm sure.

    Let me know when you have your re-designed blog available, and we'll "do lunch" the cyber way.

    Best wishes,
    Joan

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