Some authors don’t (or can’t) share any numbers. Other authors share everything. Since I’m the one in control of my books, and I figure it might help upcoming authors if they can see what realistic numbers are like for a mid-list indie author, this is the second year I’ll be sharing my numbers with you 🙂
At the beginning of last year, when I added up my total ebook sales for 2013, here’s what I reported:
10 019 paid titles
29 591 combined paid and free titles
I was SOOOOO excited when I saw I’d reached that magic 10k! I know that for some indies, that’s a number they see on a weekly basis. But I’m very much a mid-list author — no New York Times or USA Today bestselling titles (although that’s on my list of goals 😉 ) — so for me, 10k was a HUGE deal. My goal, then, for 2014 was to at least double my sales. When I told my dad that, he said, “Why double? Why not triple?” That seemed a little ambitious to me, so the realistic Rachel aimed for double, while the dreamer Rachel aimed for triple or more 😉
So … did the numbers double in 2014? YES! Did they triple? YES!!!
32 686 paid titles
145 454 combined paid and free titles
WOOOHOOOOOOO! I am still stunned by that 145k. I know a large portion of that number is made up of free downloads, and lots of people never read the free ebooks they download, but STILL. The fact that nearly 150k copies of my ebooks have made their way onto ereaders around the world in the past year is AWESOME!
So. Goals for 2015? Double that paid sales number to 60 000? Triple it to 90 000? Hey, if I’m being that ambitious, why not aim for 100k paid sales 😉
That is impressive! Trust me, some traditionally published authors don’t see those numbers. Be proud of your efforts.
Thanks, Alex 🙂 I certainly am SUPER pleased with what I’ve managed to achieve — and without a publisher backing me!
This is really awesome, Rachel! I bet those free books have a lot to do with your big numbers and have led to some of those paid sales, too. Just be as ambitious as you really want to be and throw realism out the window. It’s impossible to dream and be realistic at the same time, anyway. 🙂
Thank you, Cathy 🙂 🙂 What is it that people say? Aim for the moon and you’ll fall amongst the stars? Something like that! So we’ve got to dream BIG!!
Someday I hope to have mid-list numbers. LOL!
You’re doing awesome, Rachel! And I’m sure those numbers will keep multiplying!
Ha ha! Your writing is spectacular, Cherie, so just you wait. Once you’ve got the full Fate Challenges series out, who knows what awesome things could happen!
Wow! This is fantastic, so glad you shared these!
I hope these numbers can be helpful in some way to authors trying to figure out if the indie route is for them or not 🙂