Signing Off for the Holidays!

Hey y'all!

I'm sure everyone will be super busy the next week or so anyway, but I wanted to go ahead and "sign off" on break. I have tons of movies to watch, and books to read, and *coughs* a book to edit, and even a short story to write (more about that, later!).

In the meantime, I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!! (Or a Happy *insert holiday you prefer to celebrate here*!)

Thank you for an *AMAZING* 2011! See you all in 2012!!

Katie

Free eBooks

Don't you just love free things?

Me too!

So . . . in light of the holiday season, I'm linking some super fab YA books that are currently listed for FREE on Amazon. (Please keep in mind that prices do change, and that they might not be on sale anymore, depending on when you're reading this post.)

 

THE SOULKEEPERS by GP Ching

HOLLOWLAND by Amanda Hocking

 

JENNY POX by JL Bryan

ETERNAL EDEN by Nicole Williams

 

ANATHEMA by Megg Jenson

INTO THE SHADOWS by Karly Kirkpatrick

INDIGO BLUES by Danielle Joseph

And finally, BREATHKEPT is available via Saundra Mitchell's blog.

Be sure to check the "Also Boughts" section, too. People clearly like free books! If you have a YA book currently listed for free, go ahead and comment with the link.

Have a fabulous weekend!

KK

KDP Select

I seriously meant to post something about this earlier in the week. At that point, it was only a rumor that had the Kindleboards buzzing. The original discussion thread was posted by Modwitch.

When I woke up this morning and checked Amazon KDP, though, it looked like much of what was being discussed in the forums had just been implemented. 

It's called KDP Select, and it appears to be a profit-sharing program that offers incentives if you release your ebooks solely through Amazon and offer it through their Lending Library.  

I am totally swamped right now, so I don't have time to analyze or elaborate, but I'm posting the FAQ's from the Amazon Page:

What is the Kindle Owners' Lending Library?

The Kindle Owners' Lending Library is a collection of books that Amazon Prime members who own a kindle can borrow once a month, with no due dates. For more information, click here.

How is my share of the Kindle Owners' Lending Library fund calculated?

Your share of the Kindle Owners' Lending Library Fund is calculated based on a share of the total number of qualified borrows of all participating KDP titles. For example, if the monthly fund amount is $500,000 and the total qualified borrows of all participating KDP titles is 100,000 in December and if your book was borrowed 1,500 times, you will earn 1.5% (1,500/100,000 = 1.5%), or $7,500 in December.

If my books are distributed in the Kindle Owners' Lending Library, can customer still buy it?

Yes, your books will still be available for anyone to buy in the Kindle Store, like they've always been, and you will continue to earn royalties from those sales like you do today.

What does it mean to publish exclusively on Kindle?

When you choose KDP Select for a book, you're committing to make the digital format of that book available exclusively through KDP. During the period of exclusivity, you cannot distribute your book digitally anywhere else, including on your website, blogs, etc. However, you can continue to distribute your book in physical format, or in any format other than digital.

There's a new discussion about this on the boards right now, and there's a pretty even split of people who are willing to try this and those who are still on the fence.

I think for those who opt in (it's a 90-day period, so you can opt out after the term has expired), it's going to boil down to sales numbers. If good sales are generated from Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, Apple, etc., then more than likely an author isn't going to interrupt that cash flow.

HOWEVER . . . most Indies will tell you that the bulk of our sales comes from Amazon.

It goes without saying that I'm one of the authors on the fence, and right now I'm not planning to make a decision about this until early next year. I'd actually like to hear some stories/experiences from other writers, first, and I *really* want to coast through this holiday shopping season. Still . . . the fact is I'm not making enough money through Barnes and Noble where taking my books down would hurt me financially.

I'll let you know if I change my mind between now and the first of the year, but right now I'm taking a "wait and see" approach to this. :)

KK

November Sales Numbers

Yes! I'm running behind this month (already!) and I'm sorry for the delay . . . but here are my November numbers for those keeping track/interested.

The Grand Total is . . .

1,752

During the month of November, The Guardian sold 394 copies. The breakdown shows that 378 of those were Amazon US sales, 5 were Amazon UK sales, and 11 were Barnes and Noble sales. There were no Amazon DE or FR sales this month. This is an average of 13.1 sales per day. This is consistent with last month's total of 397. In this case, Barnes and Noble sales fell by more than 50%, but Amazon US picked up the slack.

The sequel, Vendetta, sold 264 copies. The breakdown: 255 sales were from Amazon US, 4 were from Amazon UK, and 5 were from Barnes and Noble. There were no Amazon DE or FR sales. This is an average of 8.8 sales per day. This is consistent with last month's total of 272. Vendetta took a serious hit at Barnes and Noble (down from last month's 21), but, again, Amazon US made up the difference.

Cross My Heart sold a total of 1,094 copies. Amazon US continues to be my strongest market at 872 sales. Amazon UK looks good, though (took a while to make that overseas jump!) at 124 copies sold. Amazon DE increased as well for a total of 10 copies. Amazon FR, the newest market, surprised me with 2 sales. Barnes and Noble sales remained exactly the same (not sure how that happened!) at 86. This is a total of 36.4 sales per day, and is up from last month's 34.9 average.

The last three months' sales totals have proven I've hit a plateau.

September: 1,640

October: 1,751

November: 1,752

There's obviously no way to know how December will play out. My fingers are crossed that we'll see a jump because of travel/increasing Kindle sales. Still, it's also a *really* busy time.

It's also too soon to make *too* many predictions, but the first four days of December (when compared to the first four days of November) show that CMH sales are slightly down, but The Guardian and Vendetta sales are up.  Vendetta, actually, is way up. This time last month I had 26 sales for Amazon US, and as of Sunday night at 10:00pm, I had 45.

I'm also approaching my one-year publishing anniversary. Believe it or not, this time last year I was preparing to debut The Guardian. I was still on the fence about epubbing, and I didn't know what was going to happen with my writing career. I'll definitely do an end of the year recap, but it's safe to say that I *NEVER* thought I would hit some of the milestones I did. There are still a few weeks left of the year, but, as of November's totals, I've sold over 18,000 ebooks.

That's *insane*. Again, thank you to everyone who purchased, reviewed, rated, told friends, etc. You guys are *so* awesome!

KK

P.S. If you're keeping track of your own sales, feel free to reply/post numbers or any trends you've seen. Link your blog posts if you're posting numbers publicly. I love to see how others are faring.