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

[COSenior]

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.

and WOOHOO! This is wonderful news! May it sell thousands more as the days go by! And hey, you've read MFL, right? We all know that instant success isn't as instant as it looks most of the time. So fan-freakin'-tastic that it only took seven. I'm hugely excited for you!

 

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[Held for Ransom]

You've written a terrific book that's well deserving of the success it's having. The really great news is that now I have one more successful person to emulate and learn from as I continue on my own path.

Anyways, I'm super happy for you, CH. You definitely deserve it! Here's to the Top 100 for the sequel!!!

 

[webcomber]

Congratulations ChickenHawk and COSenior,
I have noticed HfR did not see really big success until book twenty, and ChickenHawk around book seven. But is this because book number twenty or book number seven was head and shoulders so much better (in your opinion), or is there something in Amazon's ecosystem/algorithm that begins to create more momentum after a certain number of books that draws more eyes to it?

Great posts with much to learn. Thank you,

WC

 

[AubreyRose]

That's awesome!!! Congrats on your success! WC: there's no amazon algorithm, but I finally started gaining traction once my books good better.

 

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[ChickenHawk]

Today, I passed a milestone I thought I'd never see.

For the month of January, I've officially earned more from Kindle Books than from my day job. And the month is only half over. This means that if I don't sell a single book for the rest of January, I'd still make more from Amazon this month than I do from my dreaded day job.

I REALLY need to finish my next book. If it shows any substantial promise, I'll be quitting my job within the next couple of months. I hate to count my chickens before they hatch, but just imagining the possibilities feels like a dream come true.

THANKS, Held for Ransom, for starting your amazing thread!!! And THANKS, everyone else, for all the insight, advice and encouragement. I've said it before, but I'll say it again. This forum, and the concepts explained so excellently in M.J.s AMAZING book, they're all life-changers, and I couldn't be more thankful.

 

[Rawr]

 

[AubreyRose]

Awesome work, keep it up!

 

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[TheTruth]

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.

I haven't really been on here in months. But this one sentence is the most pivotal to anyone reading about this success story. Next week, people will call this a "one-hit wonder" or whatever self-imposing beliefs they have. Yet, they will never know the pain, agony and frustration it took to burn through 7 books to make the 8th a success.

I worked over 17 hours today, yet I feel refreshed after reading this thread.

You deserve everything that is coming to you

 

[COSenior]

For the month of January, I've officially earned more from Kindle Books than from my day job. And the month is only half over. This means that if I don't sell a single book for the rest of January, I'd still make more from Amazon this month than I do from my dreaded day job.

More good news! And, without the day job, you'll get so much more writing done! It's going to have a synergistic effect. Couldn't be happier for you!

 

[Held for Ransom]

Way to go! The success is well deserved. Can't wait until you quit once and for all!

 

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[Dave C]

I loved reading your journey so far, greatly deserved. Well done!

 

[Vigilante]

Enjoy this milestone tonight. Then tomorrow… Keep pushing.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

For the month of January, I've officially earned more from Kindle Books than from my day job. And the month is only half over. This means that if I don't sell a single book for the rest of January, I'd still make more from Amazon this month than I do from my dreaded day job.

Congratulations!!

I cannot tell you how exciting this is ... I'm sharing in the jubilation with you. (Anytime I hear a story like this my adrenaline flies). To be able to pull your own income without the help of ANYONE. It's ALL YOU. YOU!!! There is no words that can describe the feeling of self-sufficiency. People are consuming your creative masterpieces and the market is telling you "we like it!!!" -- the momentum should really start to build this point forward, especially if your backtitles are under the same penname.

I will speculate this: By June you will no longer need your job as your audience and income grows to the point where HAVING the job is costing you more money than keeping it. If I'm wrong, Ill be wrong late. (March? April?)



Ah, and last but not least... thread tagged GOLD.

 

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[MorgothBauglir]

Damn inspirational. Congratulations on your well deserved success.

 

[Vigilante]

Gold thread!

 

[BarryTalk]

Well done! Life will never be the same...

 

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[Bodie]

Thanks for all the inspiration!

I love how you tell us that you do your writing whenever you have a second of free time

 

[ChickenHawk]

First of all, THANKS everyone for all the encouragement! And I'm beyond honored to have this gold threaded. I've been smiling about it for days!

An update. In a little over three weeks, I've sold more than 8,000 books. Wow, just reading those numbers, I can hardly believe them myself. Somebody pinch me, will ya? Needless to say I'm beyond thrilled. Just 24 days into this month, and I've made double my monthly slowlane income, and I'm approaching the triple-income point. I should also add that I have a fairly decent slowlane job, so this is nothing short of miraculous.

Aaaaaaand, I'm QUITTING MY JOB IN JUST FIVE WEEKS!!!!!!!

I'd be quitting even sooner, but I missed this month's deadline to sign up for non-employer health insurance, so I need to hang on 'til the end of next month for my family's sake. It was exactly like MJ said, it's actually gotten to the point where my slowlane job seems to be costing me money. I'm getting emails from strangers asking me when the sequel to my book is coming out. If I could only write it faster, it would get a huge boost of momentum just from readers of book one. So timing is really critical. The iron is hot, and I feel like I'd regret it forever if I didn't jump out of the slowlane to strike out for the fastlane ASAP.

Right now, book one is ranked #150 in Amazon's entire Kindle Store. I'd say that I'm crapping my pants, except, well, to be honest, I'm completely out of crap, and my pants are so full, I can hardly walk. I can't begin to tell everyone what a difference this will make to my family. So very thankful...

And I know I've said it before, but it bears repeating. Even though this feels like an overnight result, it's been anything but. I wrote my first novel eight years ago, got an agent, lost an agent, set fiction-writing aside, wrote a string of lackluster-selling books under a different pen name, set those aside to switch genres, etc. etc. etc. Plus, I've worked as a writer for most of my professional career, so I've definitely got my 10,000 hours in and then some.

I should also add that this is my first book under this pen name, so alas, I have no back titles I can point people to. And we all know what this means...Must. Write. Faster.

 

[COSenior]

I absolutely love seeing this! Couldn't be happier for you, and I'm crossing my fingers that it not only lasts, but grows. I wish I could wave a magic wand and give you some extra hours for the next five weeks, so you can get your sequel out sooner. It's even more exciting to be reading your book as I hear all this good news. You deserve this success; enjoy the heck out of it while it's shiny and new.

 

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[AubreyRose]

Woop woop! All aboard the fastlane train!

 

[joanna]

Awesome news Great to see success happen in real time and thanks for a reminder about that overnight success myth.

 

[Vigilante]

H o l y. S h i t. Your last update was nothing short of amazing.

You are on your way JK Rowling.

This thread and your story will burn amongst the brightest in Fastlane history.

Keep pressing.

 

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[AllenCrawley]

An update. In a little over three weeks, I've sold more than 8,000 books. Wow, just reading those numbers, I can hardly believe them myself. Somebody pinch me, will ya? Needless to say I'm beyond thrilled. Just 24 days into this month, and I've made double my monthly slowlane income

- I am picking my jaw off the floor.

I couldn't be happier for you. Thanks so much for sharing your journey with us. Very grateful.

 

[britnidanielle]

Today, I passed a milestone I thought I'd never see.

For the month of January, I've officially earned more from Kindle Books than from my day job. And the month is only half over. This means that if I don't sell a single book for the rest of January, I'd still make more from Amazon this month than I do from my dreaded day job.

CONGRATS!!!!!!

I've been off the board for a minute (and procrastinating on writing), but this just kicked my butt.

I'm so happy for you ChickenHawk! Keep up the good work!!

 

[Chazmania]

That is incredible CH! You have become quite an inspriation! Thanks for sharing your journey

 

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[Enki]

I should also add that this is my first book under this pen name, so alas, I have no back titles I can point people to. And we all know what this means...Must. Write. Faster.

Holy f****** s***, Not only does it mean you need to pump some more stuff out there, It means your writing is a one match wildfire. F*** yea keep writing, gas can never hurt at this point. I want to read your book so bad, not because I want to learn from your writing style(Maybe a little), but because it has to be a damn good story.

 

[COSenior]

but because it has to be a damn good story.

Trust me, it IS a damn good story...

 

[Thriftypreneur]

Congrats on your success CH!

Any ideas what might have caused the initial burst of sales? No backlist, no author recognition, you published a book under a brand new name, and with no promotion, off it went. Any idea why or how to reproduce such results?

I've seen other authors make similar reports -- which makes me wonder: If a title doesn't see immediate sales, has it missed its cover/blurb/sample mark? Will titles that are properly hitting those 3 areas (provided the genre is large enough) always see a few sales from the moment they're live?

 

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[COSenior]

Congrats on your success CH!

Any ideas what might have caused the initial burst of sales? No backlist, no author recognition, you published a book under a brand new name, and with no promotion, off it went. Any idea why or how to reproduce such results?

I've seen other authors make similar reports -- which makes me wonder: If a title doesn't see immediate sales, has it missed its cover/blurb/sample mark? Will titles that are properly hitting those 3 areas (provided the genre is large enough) always see a few sales from the moment they're live?

I've been wondering the same thing.

 

[ChickenHawk]

Congrats on your success CH!

Any ideas what might have caused the initial burst of sales? No backlist, no author recognition, you published a book under a brand new name, and with no promotion, off it went. Any idea why or how to reproduce such results?

I've seen other authors make similar reports -- which makes me wonder: If a title doesn't see immediate sales, has it missed its cover/blurb/sample mark? Will titles that are properly hitting those 3 areas (provided the genre is large enough) always see a few sales from the moment they're live?

That's the million-dollar question, isn't it? I wonder the same thing. Take the first four books I published under a different pen name. Three were in a series starring the same character. They were of a similar length, a similar plot, similar everything. Book one did, eh, not much. But that was okay, because it was the first book. I wasn't expecting much. Then book two showed promise. Yay! Gaining momentum. But nope. Book three was a total dud. To this day, book two still outsells the others by a ratio of 3 to 1.

I've changed titles, changed covers, rewrote the openings. Nothing seems to budge them from this ratio. Sales for all of them are still quite low, but the ratio between them is beyond obvious. Of course, book three was struck by some bad luck right out of the gate. The "look inside" feature wasn't active for the first couple of weeks, and no one bought it during that timeframe. Then, after the "look inside" was finally live, ALMOST no one bought it. This month, it's sold a lofty three copies in the U.S.

Although I do think that writing the best book you can, writing the best blurb, and generating a compelling cover are paramount, I'm betting there's still an element of luck or a certain thing that no one really understands, and probably never will. Maybe I was on the "also boughts" of some monster sellers fairly soon after the release. Maybe my book fills a sub, sub, sub niche that people (including me) aren't quite aware of. Like everyone else here, I HAVE seen certain books take off like rockets for reasons I don't quite understand.

Some of those books were not my cup of tea. Bridges of Madison County comes to mind, along with the Bridget Jones series. (Not ripping on these amazing books. The sales figures definitely speak for themselves!) Meanwhile, there were other books I loved and devoured for no obvious reason. Twilight comes to mind. I'm semi embarrassed to admit it, but I absolutely love that book. I've probably read it five times. Why? Hard to say. People seem to love it or hate it, without much in-between. Based on my reviews, I'd say my book generates a similar love-hate response. (Now, if it could only generate Twilighty sales, hah!)

Book publishers, agents, writers -- they've been trying to crack the code forever. And there are some incredible misses, books publishers have spent fortunes on, only to see them tank. Then, there are some incredible surprises, like Water for Elephants, which clawed its way to the top mostly by word of mouth, along with a semi-last minute push from the publisher, after it showed such surprising potential. Meanwhile, the author's followup book didn't do a whole lot and might be considered a disappointment, sales-wise. No one really knows why.

To make a long story short (too late for that, huh?), mathematics, algos, timing, are definitely a factor. But as far as that other stuff, it might always be a big mystery. I'm not sure how big of an indicator this is, but this particular book has also done surprisingly well on Barnes & Noble. Not compared to Amazon, of course. But it's sold nearly 300 copies on B&N, to my utter delight and astonishment.

I will say this though. If you're determined to win at this, keep writing, keep publishing, keep going. And as Held for Ransom so excellently advised, choose a niche with a deep pool of buyers. Because you never know which book might surprise you. Or, if you don't "get lucky" and have one particular book break out, the cumulative sales of all your books will build you a foundation that's probably a whole lot steadier than mine right now. At this moment, I have only ONE book that's doing well. It's beyond thrilling, but incredibly risky. If Amazon removed that book tomorrow, my income would dry up to almost nothing.

This, of course, brings me to the usual point. Must. Write. Faster.