[PROGRESS THREAD] ChickenHawk's Self-Published Fiction EBooks

[Held for Ransom]

I still get a lot done, I think you'd agree.

Uhhm yeah. Doubtful is anyone is disputing that fact...

I personally like to finish one book before starting another

I didn't realize there was another way? I only ever write one book at a time... Oh the distractions I've been missing out on!!

I don't pick up the first one again until the urgent one is finished

The way I read that is to finish the important stuff first.

"Urgent" is the action of paying a bill which isn't due for three weeks.

Important is finishing the last 5K of the book that pays it.

Borrowing from Stephen Pressfield's, "The War of Art" on the primacy of the important versus the urgent...

I'm keenly aware of the Principle of Priority, which states (a) you must know the difference between what is urgent and what is important, and (b) you must do what's important first. What's important is the work. That's the game I have to suit up for. That's the field on which I have to leave everything I've got. Do I really believe that my work is crucial to the planet's survival? Of course not . But it's as important to me as catching that mouse is to the hawk circling outside my window. He's hungry. He needs a kill. So do I.

 

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[COSenior]

The way I read that is to finish the important stuff first.

In the case I was referring to, both were important, but one needed to be done first.

 

[Rawr]

This is a really good podcast with Pressfield and Joe Rogan. There is another guy on there who runs a company and all three identify very strongly with what War of Art is all about. Really interesting insight into that "causing action to happen"

to quote Pressfield there:

"Every day I wake up and ask myself, am I going to F*ck off today?"

 

[COSenior]

"Every day I wake up and ask myself, am I going to F*ck off today?"

I actually have the opposite problem. Once in a while, I probably should F-off.

 

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[ChickenHawk]

Well, I made my deadline and have officially published my first book under my new pen name. The final word count was 78,000 words, so it's definitely a full novel, even if it does end on somewhat of a cliffhanger. The book's been live on amazon since this morning, and I have seven sales so far.

I know that's small potatoes to the best-sellers here, but I find this very encouraging compared to sales under my last pen name. Under my last pen name, in a different genre, I had zero sales the first day.

And, I refused to hit "publish" until I took Held for Ransom's most excellent advice and set up the mechanism for subscribing to my mailing list. Hopefully, this will pay off when I publish the sequel in the Spring.

 

[ChickenHawk]

Quick update...I sold about 30 copies during the first 24 hours and have a sales rank of about 7,000. This is so exciting, compared to the results in the other genre. I even had someone sign up for my mailing list. It was a nice Christmas Eve bonus!

Btw this is without any promotional activity, free giveaways, or purchases from friends or family. Not sure I'm gonna share my new pen name with family. This author has a bit of a profanity problem.

 

[Held for Ransom]

Incredible result, CH! Congratulations!

 

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[COSenior]

Quick update...I sold about 30 copies during the first 24 hours and have a sales rank of about 7,000. This is so exciting, compared to the results in the other genre. I even had someone sign up for my mailing list. It was a nice Christmas Eve bonus!

That's wonderful! So excited for you, and would love to buy and read it if you'd PM a link.

 

[Rawr]

Awesome results CH!! Congratulations!

 

[ChickenHawk]

A quick update...It's been one week since publishing under my new pen name, and I'm beyond thankful to report that I've sold 250 copies so far and have had 9 people sign up for my mailing list. I know the sales will very likely dip, probably quite dramatically, as the days go on, but for now I'm totally enjoying it. Whoohooo!

It's so exciting!!! And I'm so thankful, not just for all the encouragement and help here, but for the fact that readers have actually bought it.

Honestly, the results caught me a little off guard, but in a totally wonderful way. I was going to spend this past week writing, but ended up taking care of some "housekeeping" things in hopes of capitalizing off the momentum. This is what I did:
1. Set up a Web site.
2. Designed a print version of the book on CreateSpace.
3. Set up a Twitter account.

Now, what I really need to do is finish the sequel. I've set a target date of Valentines Day, but that's probably pushing it for a full-length novel. Must. Write. Faster.

 

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[Rawr]

Speed, you deserve it for working so hard!!

 

[ChickenHawk]

This morning, I woke up to the nicest surprise. My latest book is ranked just under 2,800 on Amazon. In terms of sales, this translates to just over 200 copies worldwide in January so far. Considering we're less than five days into January, I can't stop smiling!

I know the boost won't last forever, but I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts, even if it's only for five minutes!

I've completed only 10% of the followup book. Must. Write. Faster.

 

[Held for Ransom]

I told you so... You aren't done yet! Way to go CH!

 

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[Breaking Free]

Nice work! You make my 200 copies sold since October look like child's play

 

[ChickenHawk]

200 copies sold since October

Hah! 200 copies since October sounds pretty impressive to me!

 

[RHL]

This isn't really my wheelhouse, so I'm just passing through, but I admire the execution in this thread. Speed +. I want to ask, what are the options for leverage for you? It seems like responding to 200 sales this month by writing a follow up, while smart and sure to make money, is a lot of work/time commitment. Is there any way you could get your current 200 book sales figure for this month to 400 by exerting leverage with the present book for less effort than it takes to write a sequel, or is the sequel really the most proven method to jack up sales?

 

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[ChickenHawk]

This isn't really my wheelhouse, so I'm just passing through, but I admire the execution in this thread. Speed +. I want to ask, what are the options for leverage for you? It seems like responding to 200 sales this month by writing a follow up, while smart and sure to make money, is a lot of work/time commitment. Is there any way you could get your current 200 book sales figure for this month to 400 by exerting leverage with the present book for less effort than it takes to write a sequel, or is the sequel really the most proven method to jack up sales?

Thanks so much for the encouragement and comments, I really appreciate it!

I've debated marketing, etc., to try to jack up the results of this book. But the more I look at it, the more I think I should wait until the followup is completed. Until then, once the readers try this one, there's really nowhere else for them to go. Once I have the followup, I'll very likely put some money and effort into marketing, whether for this book, the followup, or both. Hopefully, the two books combined will help boost each other up in the rankings.

Also, this book ends on a bit of a cliffhanger. I'm concerned that if I market it heavily, I might get more hate than love as readers are left hanging.

I did do a few things, like set up a Web site, twitter account, create a print version, and publish this to non-Amazon places, so I am doing some non-writing things, but mostly this is building the foundation for a larger line of books. In cheery news, I've also had 21 people sign up for my mailing list, so hopefully that will also boost the results of book 2.

 

[RHL]

But the more I look at it, the more I think I should wait until the followup is completed.

Gotcha. That way you can generate sales for two products instead of one, and maybe boost both books to 400/month. Hope you make it!

 

[Hicks]

Hi,
did you go with awebber for your mailing list...what was your experience of it?

 

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[ChickenHawk]

Hi,
did you go with awebber for your mailing list...what was your experience of it?

I went with MailCheat(Chimp). I haven't actually sent an email with it yet, but as far as gathering email addresses, I've been really happy so far.

 

[Hicks]

cool. thanks.

 

[COSenior]

This morning, I woke up to the nicest surprise. My latest book is ranked just under 2,800 on Amazon. In terms of sales, this translates to just over 200 copies worldwide in January so far. Considering we're less than five days into January, I can't stop smiling!

I know the boost won't last forever, but I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts, even if it's only for five minutes!

I've completed only 10% of the followup book. Must. Write. Faster.

I've got to believe that it will only get better. Phenomenal results for having so few out! You're going to be one of the breakout runaway best sellers, mark my words!

 

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[COSenior]

Hah! 200 copies since October sounds pretty impressive to me!

Me, too!

 

[ChickenHawk]

Another update...
I can't stop smiling. My rank jumped to #905 on Amazon today. Is it unladylike to admit that I almost crapped my pants?

With the last 12 hours, I sold 90 copies. Of those, 31 took place while I dashed out for lunch from my dreaded day job. I had to double-check the numbers, because I was sure I was seeing things. When I realized I wasn't, my response was, "HOLY CRAP!!!"

I know the boost won't last forever, but for now, I'm totally enjoying it, and am so thankful for all the help and insight here on this forum. It really is life-changing.

 

[ChickenHawk]

A funny pix...I wrote about half of my novel in longhand wherever I was, trying to work around a massive shortage of time between the day-job and family responsibilities. Here's all of that raw material. Almost all of these sheets are two-sided. Funny how all those words add up.

 

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[COSenior]

Amazing

 

[Vigilante]

Save those. They're going to be worth a fortune someday.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

I know the boost won't last forever

Ahhh but maybe it will. Three years after TMF was released and it still sells as well as 2 months after release. Don't discount what is possible. Look at other great books -- they consistently sell, day after day, week after week. If your book is good, the momentum of sales should build as other people start recommending it. Congratulations, I'm excited for ya!!

 

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[Held for Ransom]

Couldn't happen to a nicer lady! Get that sequel done!

 

[ChickenHawk]

Wow, I'm shocked and beyond thrilled to report that in January alone, I've just sold my 1,000th U.S. copy of my newest book.

It's Jan. 10, so this means I've sold 1,000 copies in less than 10 days, and have spent the last few days in the Amazon top 1,000. Plus, this month, I've also sold about 160 copies overseas. And, I've had 65 people sign up for my mailing list. Hopefully, this will help boost sales of the followup book, which I'm working to release in a couple of months.

So very, very thankful...

For anyone new to this thread, I should probably add that this is the seventh book I've written, so I'm building on a long, discouraging history of less-than-glorious results. In short, it definitely hasn't been a case of overnight (potential) success.