Spreadsheets - Keeping Track of Sales

Okay, so there was a request to discuss my use of spreadsheets in this self-publishing endeavor.  For some of you, this might be a total snooze-fest.  Sorry about that.  Check back on Friday and I'll try to be more interesting.  ;o)

First, so we're all on the same page, this is Excel (2010, I think. Might be 2007.)  The files themselves are called workbooks and each individual tab within the workbook is a spreadsheet.

I have been using a separate workbook for each book.  They kinda look like this:

But opening a separate workbook for each book is kind of a pain in the ass, and it clutters the bottom of my screen. (Way worse than what you can see up there.)  Plus, toggling between all those files.  And then think about when I have 8 books out there.  Or twelve.  Ugh.

So, I made a new workbook to encompass all the books in one place.  It's my 2015 Book Sales workbook.  (The one called Sales Totals is what I refer to as the Master Plan. It's very pretty and has multiple charts & graphs.)

The 2015 Book Sales workbook keeps everything in one place. Now, instead of opening 4 separate files (one for each book and the Sales Totals), I will be able to open two files:

Isn't it pretty?

And the 2015 Book Sales will feed the Sales Totals, so I only have one place to plug in data to create pretty graphs like this:

My 'Pages Read' graph

Why bother? (Or as Hubs asked, 'why not just keep track of total book sales instead of individual books?')

Well, I'm hoping to track what works and what doesn't.  Find sales patterns and then find a way to recreate the spikes.  Look for trends and maximize them.  And I do the individual book thing because each book is different - different pricing at different times, different page counts, different genres, different marketing efforts.  :shrug:  Or, it could be that I like playing with data. 

Sales Totals, Daily Sales, color-coded for mktg efforts

As I've said before, some stuff works, other stuff doesn't - but how would I have an inkling of what worked if I didn't track it?  So I track it.  Does it help?  A little.  Down the road - perhaps more.  At least I'll have some idea of what to expect with each new release and with every subsequent year. 

I hope this helps.  I suspect at this point, it probably didn't answer the questions people might've had on exactly 'how' to do it.  That would take hours and I suspect I might not be the awesome software instructor I used to be.  Excel nowadays, though, does a lot of the work for you.  Autosum was a godsend, let me tell ya.  And being able to type the equal sign then click a cell in a whole other spreadsheet?  I could kiss someone for that.  Try typing out '[2015 Book Sales.xlsx]Monthly Totals'!$B$13 in one cell and then in the next cell that but now the B should be a C, or the 13 has to be a 14.  Ugh.  What a pain.

Now, it's not exactly what I would call easy-peasy, but it is a lot easier than it used to be.  Don't be afraid of it.  Play around.  Try some things.  But do what I didn't do and plan ahead.  Don't just think about your needs now, but what your needs might be a couple books or a year down the road.  Or you'll wind up like me - building a new workbook and then going back and populating it from the old workbooks.  It's a lot of work I could've saved myself if I'd planned ahead.  In the end, though, the work I put in now will save me time in the long run.

Any questions?  Do you keep spreadsheets?  What do use yours for?  (I also have one for expenses. I used to have a spreadsheet that listed all the books I owned - titles, authors, pub dates, etc. I still have one I use for quotes.)

Decisions Decisions

I'm rethinking my publishing schedule. 

Main reason?  Sales of Wish in One Hand have not been spectacular.  Sales of Dying Embers and Accidental Death, on the other hand, have been way better.  So it would make sense to give the readers what they want and publish more along those lines.  Right?

I had expected to publish the sequel to WIOH this coming February or March with the third book coming out next August or September.  Now, I don't know.  This genie thing hasn't found its niche market.  A few people here and there love it.  (Thanks!)  But it's not really catching fire anywhere. 

Mulling it all around in my head.

I just finished the second book in the SCIU series - Fertile Ground.  And I'm really excited about that, which may be skewing my choices a little.  I have the sequel to Accidental Death started and on the back burner.  But I already have two more genie books in the bag.  Less work for me to get those ready for publication.  (Well, except for the cover art part.  That's a long story that I'd rather not tell online.)

:shrug:  I dunno.

BloodFlow should still be out next month.  My editor is calling it a political thriller.  Which is good because medical-technical-political suspense is too wordy.  She says it's my best book yet.  We'll see what the public thinks toward the end of this year.  Still, it's another book in the thriller/mystery/suspense vein.  Maybe I should set the paranormal thing aside while I focus on that sort of stuff. 

Decisions decisions. 

So, if I do adjust the production schedule, it'll look like this:

November 2015 - BloodFlow
February/March 2016 - Fertile Ground (SCIU #2)
May/June 2016 - Natural Causes (Dennis Haggarty #2)
August/September 2016 - In Deep Wish (Djinn #2)
November/December 2016 - Something totally different (maybe resurrect Fear Itself or Nature of Destruction - my first and second books - OR do a dystopian)

Anyway, that's one of the awesome things about self-publishing.  I have the freedom to do whatever I want and the market will tell me if I did the right thing or bombed horribly. 

What do you think I should do?  Suggestions are welcome, but don't be bummed if, after mulling over everything, I go my own way.  K?

A Wild Idea

Yesterday, a horrible thing happened.  Unfortunately, it wasn't an unusual horrible thing in our current world.  And also unfortunate was the way certain people oozed forth to wave banners for their favorite cause - gun control - before the victim count was even verified or the sick bastard was neutralized.  But hey, when it comes to a cause, ya gotta strike while the iron's hot, right?

Yah.  About that.  Seems to me they're striking at the wrong iron. 

Here's a wild idea.  Instead of getting rid of guns, let's do away with the poisonous ideologies and philosophies that make people think it's hunky-dory to kill another human being. With anything. Guns, knives, ropes, poison, hammers, screwdrivers, electrical cords, antifreeze, fire, homemade bombs, nail guns, vehicles, arrows, rocks, water, their bare hands...

But please, keep focusing on those darn guns.  Cuz they've been the problem all along.  Right?  :eyeroll:

Think about it.  Seriously.  You can ban all the deadly weapons you want, but until the world addresses the real problem, people will still find a way to kill other people.  Maybe they won't be able to do it on a large scale - not easily anyway... I mean, there are probably dozens of ways to kill multiple people with the stuff you can buy at your local hardware store if you're so inclined... but they'll still be able to do it.  

Especially since someone who is willing to break the highest, most crucial law of all won't be bothered by breaking the law to obtain a deadly weapon.

So please, don't talk to me about gun control.  I'm not in favor of gun control.  I'm in favor of self-control.  Find a way to spread that shit around and we might end up seeing a lot less murder in this nation.  Hell, while we're at it, find a way to spread personal responsibility around and to ditch the idea that whatever's wrong in your life is someone else's fault.  I'd love to see the world after that happens.

But I won't. Not in my lifetime.  Probably not in my daughter's - and, if she ever has children, in my grandchildren's lifetime either.  It's too hard. And why choose the hard way when the world offers you the easy way on a daily basis.  :shrug:

Wednesday WIP Words

Well, it's Wednesday.  (Really? Wednesday already? Crap.)  I thought I'd give you all a little glimpse into my next book - BloodFlow (due out in November, good lord willin' and the creek don't rise).  This is all before my editor works her magic, so don't expect perfection.  K?

Without a specific location, Randi pulled an internet map up on her phone and once she got her bearings, she headed toward the warehouse district in Anacostia. Her better judgment told her to call the body in and let local law enforcement handle it, but as Tweeg always happily pointed out, she was better suited to women’s intuition than rational judgment. As she drove down the freeway, she went over what little she knew of the situation ahead of her. The more she replayed the events of the past twenty-four hours, the more her instincts screamed at her that this was no job for locals.

She wasn’t sure it was the right job for her fellow agents.

You should’ve called in backup, Tweeg’s snotty voice echoed in her head. She had to admit, as much as she hated the annoying ass, he’d probably be right. A dozen agents in full gear should be swarming the warehouse now, instead of one agent in a smart pantsuit. Giving herself a wry grin in the rearview, she said, “I’m guessing this is what they mean when they call a book’s heroine ‘too stupid to live’.”

But look at it this way. If this is a trap, I’ll fall into it and once I’m out of the picture, Vic will be safe. On the other hand, if this is really related to the case, I’ll be a hero and whether I look stupid won’t make a damn bit of difference.

The eyes looking back at her told her she wasn’t fooling anyone. She knew the real reason behind her traipsing into unfamiliar territory with only her service weapon as backup. This whole business had been too politically charged from the onset for her to be able to trust anyone who worked for the government. For all she knew, her own boss had ordered the attack on Dr. Hammond to keep the true nature of Mrs. Reynolds’ death a secret. Stranger things had happened, after all.

If this is a trap of some kind, I’m already committed to it. Whatever happens is on me. The thought buoyed her up. For the first time since the fiasco with Payton, she was trusting her own judgment on a real case. Maybe she could use this case to prove she hadn’t gained anything because of her relationship with the director—that she really was worthy of being an agent with the TTF.

When she finally reached Pine Street, she hit a smidgen of luck. The street seemed to be one of the shorter ones in the area. It held five warehouses and only one of them appeared to be unoccupied. If her luck held, the body would be inside. If not, she would have to eat crow and call in the police to sweep the area. If her luck had really given out, the tip had been fake and she’d be eating more than crow before the day was out.

Pulling her sedan into a weed-ridden parking area, she regarded the empty structure. From the looks of it, sooner or later someone would call in the building inspectors to condemn the place.

 As she stood on the pavement outside, the only obvious entrance was the front door, but she couldn’t be lucky enough to find it unlocked. Instead, she had to leave the front and try the loading docks in back. If those proved unhelpful, she’d have to call this in.

Luck came back for her before she walked all the way to the back.  A side door stood open along the way. She didn’t need to step inside to know the caller had told her the truth. The smell of decomposition wafting through to her proved it.

With a handkerchief covering her nose and mouth, she stepped into the cavernous metal building. So help me god, if this is a dog or a deer, I’m going to find whoever called me and shoot him in the kneecaps. The smell of her own detergent did little to cover the growing scent as she ventured further into the building. She barely made it deep enough inside to see the shadowy outline of a man.

As the caller had said, the warehouse housed a dead guy. The body lay face down in the middle of what used to be a shipping area. When she got close enough, she could see the gaping hole in the back of his head. A wide circle of dark, brownish-red blossomed from where his nose should’ve been pressed against the concrete. She didn’t need to roll him over to know she wouldn’t be making a visual identification of this victim. No one would.

The mental image of what a bullet could do as it exited a man’s face undid her resolve. She turned and walked quickly from the crime scene before she contaminated it with a mess of her own making. Whoever this guy had been, someone wanted him dead in a very bad way.

The Chicken Little Effect

Okay, so the Author Earnings report came out.  From what I read, it's good news on the indie author side and bad news on the traditional published side.  Which, of course, led to arm-waving, and snottiness, and misinformation being bandied about.  Which led, of course, to my posting the following on FB:

Ebook sales are falling! Ebook sales are falling! - Chicken Little 2015

:shrug: It amused me. Think about it.  One chicken getting hit on the head by a falling acorn does not mean we're all going to die.  In fact, 1200 chickens getting hit by a semi-load of acorns still doesn't mean we're all going to die.  It basically means those chickens should probably stop standing under oak trees.

As far as I can tell, ebook sales overall are increasing - not declining.  Please pay special attention to the word 'overall'.  It's the word that really matters.  Because, yeah, ebook sales are falling at the traditional publishing houses.  When they price their ebooks so freaking high even the secondary characters are getting nosebleeds, it really isn't any wonder sales are falling.

People are being careful with their dollars and, as such, they're being incredibly choosy about what books get to make it onto their shelves (or ereaders as the case may be nowadays).  And sales of high-dollar books are taking a hit because of it.  It's the market, man.  A reader is offered a choice - an ebook for $13.99 or an ebook for $3.99.  They both have nice covers.  They both have interesting blurbs.  They both have good reviews.  You do the 'look inside' and see both are edited well and either would hold your interest.  Unless you're already in love with the writings of the $13.99 author, which one are you going to buy?

For September, my sales were off.  And I still don't think that bit of information means the industry as a whole is crapping out.  It means I haven't done much in the way of advertising recently, maybe people aren't grooving on Wish in One Hand the way I expected them to, and perhaps I'm reaching a saturation point with the readers I have managed to connect with.  What's to do about all that?  Write the next book.  Reach into my tightwad wallet and spend some more advertising dollars, and continue to be my sporadically witty self on social media.

The thing to do is not to run around shouting about the sky falling.  It just gets others whipped into an unnecessary frenzy and none of us needs extra frenzy right now.

And if Chicken Little staggers by, hyperventilating over prophecies of gloom and doom?  Consider the source, look at the facts, and settle back with your ereader and a cup of joe.  It's all good, baby.

(To underscore my point - after I'd already written this, I saw this article from Forbes yesterday.)

Jo Talks Genies - Part Two

Sanderson here asked me an interesting question the other day. It's one I've been asked time and again over the years. 

"What's this whole 'freeing genies' thing about? I mean, why do you do it?"

First off, think about it.  A whole species of intelligent beings starts their existence out as slaves.  Who wants that shit?

Now, some have argued - the Council, for instance - that slavery is decreed by the gods and it's a way to keep being with incredible power from taking over and ruining things for the rest of the sentient life on the planet.  I figure if we're so damn incredible, we should be able to put a rein on our own damn selves.  All it takes is a little knowledge and a good moral compass.

Okay, so not everyone has that.  And lord knows, it's not like the best and the brightest of the lot get chosen somehow to become a genie.  Look at me.  I was an airhead without the common sense frogs are endowed with.  But I learned.  And the big Rules keep us from doing anything really stupid - like unmaking the universe.  What I started with the Network was a way to take the genies who might not have the knowledge or the good moral compass, and train them to be productive members of society.  So far, it's worked pretty well. 

I also admit there's a good amount of guilt behind my mission.  I got my freedom because my Master died, and then I spent it playing hedonist.  What a waste of forever.  Now I spent time trying to free other genies without someone having to die.  All it takes is a little wish and POOF they're free.  Or to use a phrase Basil likes to toss around - easy peasy.  If the Council or the Efreet or the gods don't like it, they can lump it.  (Or they can try to stop me - which is the more likely scenario.) 

If you're interested in learning more about genies, or my escapades of trying to do my job when not everyone wants me to do it, grab a copy of Wish in One Hand.  Right now, I have genies to wrangle and Efreet to chase.

Trying Stuff and a CONTEST!

Hubs and I were talking the other day about ways to sell more books.  I've hit a slump, you see, and we were brainstorming different ways to boost things without breaking the bank.  What I learned from that discussion is that there are things I am unwilling to do and things we are unwilling to do to accomplish the goal of selling more books.

For instance, I have mentioned before my fear in crowds. So that flat cuts out writing conferences, book signings, etc.  I mean, it would be kind of hard to accomplish anything if I went to those things and spent the entire time hiding in a corner, trying not to barf.

I read the other day that one way to boost sales is to put in an ad or get an interview with the local paper.  Here we run afoul of our overriding need for anonymity.  Sure, it would be easy enough to locate me should someone have a sufficient motivation, but I really don't want to make it any easier.  We moved out to the back of beyond so we could be out of the public eye.  :shrug:

So, what's a hermit to do?

Basically, I'm doing it.  I'm writing books, I'm getting my name out there online where I can without being too annoying, and I'm placing the ads I can afford to place.  (When they let me.  ENT turned me down this time around.  I'll try again next month.)

One thing that would help are reviews.  Of course, I said something about reviews on Twitter and got my first one-star*.  Might've just been coincidence.  Correlation is not causation.  :shrug: 

Another thing I thought might help is I changed the cover for Wish in One Hand.  Something about the image of Jo was driving me nuts, but I wasn't sure if I could fix it and I did not want to go back to the original artist.  Then as I was trying to take a nap, I figured out how to do fix her.  I'm still waiting for Amazon to put the new image on the sales page, but here it is:

 And here's the old cover:

You can't see the lamp anymore, but you also can't see the weird way she's standing.  :shrug:  Maybe that's just me.  I also think this is more in line with other covers in the genre.  Again, might be just me. 

Anyway, I'm doing what I can.  I think.  I always feel like I could be doing more.

Now, because I have it on good authority that giving books away helps with sales and reviews, I'm putting this out there for all of you.  Leave a comment here, on the FB status update with this post, or retweet the tweet from this status update, and get entered to receive a copy of the limited print run of Wish in One Hand with the original cover.  I'll be changing the print cover today sometime, but I have stock of the first print run here.   I'll even sign it and put in some swag.  Pass it around.

The entries will be tabulated next Monday.  I'll draw one winner from them and announce the winner on Wednesday the 30th.

*My first one star review was for Dying Embers and she says the book just wasn't for her. She didn't like the writing, she hated Jace, and she didn't finish the book.  Okee doke.  I knew going in not everyone would like what I write, and I'm totally cool with it.  So, I guess this means I've 'made it' and I'm a real boy now.  Err, girl.  Err, writer person. ;o)