ROW 80: Squeezing it in.

I'm halfway through my second week of 13 hour days. Magically, I think I've pretty much stuck to the goals.  I've really had to buckle down, but sometimes you'll have that.  That's what goals are for, right?  To keep you focused in the busy times.  Here's a quick look at where I stand:

• Publishing Lesson Learned: First month's numbers are in!  More on that in a moment.  Also, thanks to the comments on the post last week, we're checking out the media rate and flat rate envelopes for shipping signed copies today.  Also, I'm now aware of Kindlegraph for signing ebooks.  I need to do some more research on it though when I get some time.
• WIP pages: 7.  Got one back.  Had one of those days where the words flowed and I knocked out an easy 2.5 pages.  Fun scene.
• Blogging:  This makes 4/3 for here, one a fiction post.  3/3 on the other blog, though I took a week off from fiction practice there.  I'll still say goal exceeded.

So, it was a good week.  Despite having football and even stopping in at GenCon, I was able to squeeze in my goals.  My blog posts were a bit shorter, but brief isn't always bad.  Nearing the end of a WIP really helps, as I'm getting to all the fun scenes that I've been imagining forever.  Plus, it's easier to apply butt to chair when the end is in sight.

Also, now that my book has been out for almost exactly a month, we're starting to get some feedback from the first "commercial" readers.  Most are family and friends, but not all are.  I'm completely baffled, sometimes, at how people find my book.  Ah, the wonder of search engines.  I'd like to think this also means that my blurb and cover are, if not great, at least good.  Enough to hook readers on their own, which is the goal.

The book went live for Kindle on July 9th.  The other editions followed shortly with full launch finishing up on the 25th when we finally got print going.  Most of my earliest buyers are finishing up, which means reviews!  Good reviews too.  I don't think I've gotten anything below a five star yet with perhaps a good handful of responders scattered across several sites.  Thank you to everyone who has done that!  People really do take that in account when considering a book, especially reviews.  So you're helping not only me, but other readers as well.  I'm not sure that the five-star streak can hold, but it's a great start.  I only encourage honesty (if something didn't work for you, please be honest!).

In case you're curious, for the month of July, I sold 34 copies of the book.  It isn't quite a full month, but 34 is a great number for a debut indie author.  Most of the sales (12) were on Kindle, but the Nook is not far off (9).  My other big source was the print version (8), but I sort of expect those to tail off.  Family and friends love having the print version to support me, but I would guess once I exhaust that part of my market, new readers will be more likely to digital customers.  We'll see.

Being able to simply share a story like this is a dream come true.  It is awesome to be able to offer even just those close to me a nicely bound paperback.  Pretty cool.  Also, side effect: reviews, sales, sharing... they all help with that whole butt-to-chair thing as well.  Still, I'm trying to keep my expectations low.  This is a marathon, not a sprint.  I simply need to keep writing and let the stories speak for themselves.  I have faith that, in today's age of technology, if my stories merit a readership, they'll find it.  My job is to simply offer the best I can write, and always keep learning.

As always, I'll close with a quick look at the word count:

• Since last check-in: 6472
• Fiction: 2349
• 36% New Fiction
• Grand Total for the challenge: 32,591