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$75 for my novella? Don’t fall for it!

If you’re an author of any variety, you probably have been on eBay buying something you don’t need, and then it occurs to you, “Maybe one of my books is on here.”

And, much like Googling yourself, you eBay yourself. And when you get results like this, you WARN people. So, here goes:

PEOPLE! Do not buy my novella, Twelfth Krampus Night, for $75! It’s not even signed, which would probably decrease the value.

I’m not telling you to not buy it because I don’t get a cut (and I don’t). I’m telling you because it’s highway robbery. The book’s available on Amazon for $9.99 for the paperback and $2.99 for the ebook.

Now, if roughly one million of you would buy the paperback right this very moment, I’d greatly appreciate it. All right, I get it, that’s an unreasonable ask. How about 900,000 of you? That’s fair.

But what isn’t is charging gullible readers $75 for a book of mine that’s not worth that much!

The ebook promotional numbers are in …

Back in March and April of this year, I embarked on a near three-week-long 99-cent promotion for my debut novel, The Dark Servant. I documented which promotional sites I paid to advertise my book, and how many books, according to those websites, I sold. Here’s the original post, and I suggest you read it to see which sites I plan on using again, and which ones I’ll avoid.

Long story short, I paid $506 to advertise my (discounted) 99-cent eBook directly to readers through nearly a dozen websites. According to my publisher, Samhain Publishing, I sold a total of 1,265 promotional copies through various retail outlets. I don’t mind saying my royalties amounted to $386.10. So, based on promotional copies alone, I came out behind financially. But I don’t mind because I always viewed this endeavor as an experiment for future promotions. I know which sites to use before my next dance with Sentinels (available November 3, 2015). I hope for a 99-cent promotion for that book next spring. But that will depend on one big thing: whether I can land a BookBub slot. BookBub rocked and alone was responsible for moving more than 800 books! It’s pricey (around $280, I think), but worth it. So, as promised long ago, here’s how I got to 1,265.

Retail breakdown:
Amazon: 889
Amazon International: 117
Apple: 39
B&N: 157
Google: 26
Kobo: 33
Samhain: 4

All hail BookBub!

And for anyone out there who reads this and has a question, please, fire away!