Happy Monday, WG2E-Land!
Over the course of many of our “Writers Making Choices” Interviews, you’ve heard many Indie Epub Authors mention that it’s not just the sales boosts we get from fantabulous blogs like Pixel of Ink and Kindle Nation Daily, but rather the “long tail” of sales that will define us as authors.
But what is the Ebook Sales “Long Tail”?
Is it a dinosaur tail?
Sort of…LOL!…but to show it in Line Graph form versus T-Rex form, it looks something like this…
So let’s look at what comprises this “long tail of sales”:
A. Special Sales “Push” Events like – Kindle Nation Daily Sponsorship the end of January 2011, dropping the price of BOOTSCOOTIN’ BLAHNIKS to 99 Cents from $2.99 in mid-February, each release date for the next D. D. Scott book, hitting Pixel of Ink and Kindle Nation Daily Bargain Book Picks week of April 11, 2011, etc.
B. Monthly Sales Totals of -
Aug 2010 = 20
Sept 2010 = 7
Oct 2010 = 28
Nov 2010 = 27
Dec 2010 = 31
Jan 2011 = 116
Feb 2011 = 125
March 2011 = 188
April 2011 (to date thru 4/24) = 653
Here’s how I envision the making of a Sales Long Tail…you have your Dots on your Line Graph for each (A) Special Sales Push Event…then you connect those dots with your (B) Monthly Sales…and that creates your Sales Long Tail.
Make sense?
The idea of the Sales Long Tail is that you want to continue building your readership to new daily and monthly averages following each Special Event Push you do or achieve.
For example, I’ve gone from selling between 7 – 27 books per month to now selling 27 – 33 per day. So each day, in D. D. Scott-ville, I’m currently ”finding” 27 – 33 new, D. D. Scott readers.
How fantabulously cool is that?!
Ok, It’s Your Turn WG2E-Land: Tell us about your Ebook Sales Long Tails…in other words, how have your sales progressed each month? Are you connecting the dots and building your reader bases in the shape of a Line Graph’s Long Tail?
The Best of WG2E Sales Long Tail Wishes — D. D. Scott
My sales long tail has started, following my feature on Pixel Of Ink a couple of weeks ago and the release of new new novel. I have between 5-8 new readers per day, which is fabulous.
5-8 new readers per day is fabulous and also a fantabulous start to your very own Sales Long Tail!!!
Congrats, Jenny!
And thanks tons for sharing your Long Tail Numbers with us here at The WG2E!!!
That’s a cool way to think of your sales! I wouldn’t have thought of it like that!
It is a cool way to look at your sales, Jeanne…you betchya!
And it really helps an author track just how much he or she is building their reader and fan base over the long-term…or tail! LOL!!!
Great explanation of this marketing term, DD.
I’ll be doing a few guest blogs coming up and will be tracking how successful they are for both immediate sales and the long tail sales
That will be a great experiment, Misa! Can’t wait to hear about your long tail sales too!
You Go, Girl!
I noticed spikes on my “tail” after joining our Naked Hero grog last October then again after we launched WG2E in January…so starting and/or joining blogs and grogs would also be fantabulous “dots” and later spikes on a writer’s sales tail!
Great information, D.D, and I’d never thought of graphing it with dots representing events. It might be tricky for me because I did a few things all at once – put out the 2nd book in a series, lowered the price of the first, got a mention on Frugal eReader among other things. It’s certainly paying off. I started with my first book at the end of January and now have 4 books. I’ve just passed the 1200 sales mark for April (I had 71 in Feb and 356 in March) and I’m very pleased to be getting new readers every day. That’s the best part.
Let’s hope our long tails just get longer and longer!
Fantabulous Real Numbers, C.J., and thanks bunches for sharing ‘em with us!
You could definitely begin graphing your Sales Long Tail now. And what a huge increase from February’s 71 to March’s 356 to 1200 plus this month! You Go!!!
And it’s terrific that you’ve already got 4 books out too. I’ve noticed my tail grows with every new release I add to my cyber shelf.
I’ll be interested in seeing what my numbers will be once I release Carpe Bead ‘Em.
Me too, Tonya!
I’m really looking forward to reading it, and know tons more people are too!
And that’s the beauty of the Sales Long Tail paradigm…your tail has forever to grow as there’s no “shelf-life” expiration date to worry about in our Indie Epub World. Once your books hit a cyber shelf, they’re there forever, and are just waiting on you to “find” your audience and bring ‘em to your shelf.
The Indie Epub world is full of fantabulous new audiences just waiting to “find” you and your books too!
Wow, D.D that is amazing…What a difference marketing makes and do your homework.
The Promo and Marketing do definitely work, L.A.!
And it’s all about finding these huge groups of hungry, hungry readers – like on Pixel of Ink, Kindle Nation Daily, Kindle Boards, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, etc – who not only read themselves, but then, once they like you, they build more buzz for you and your books.
It’s truly a case of finding ways to “go viral”. And when you do, that’s how this sales long tail grows and grows and grows.
Seeing these sales from other writers has me salivating like one of Pavlov’s dogs! Between this blog and JA Konrath’s blog I have gotten major motivation to write. Thank you! I finished writing my first book yesterday and it is with the editor now. My cover art is almost done. I feel like right now there is a window of opportunity for new authors – and this window won’t be around for ever! I am hoping to have my book live by May 15.
Question: Does anyone know how to make a pen name on Amazon? Do I have to create a separate Amazon account? If not, will my pen name be link to my books under my real name?