31 December 2014

2014 In Review

So, it's now the end of 2014, and time to look back at my goals for the year, and see what it was that I completed...

1. Finish and publish my new Aston novella Fallen.

Fallen has been finished, and once we have some cover art nailed down, it should be published in the first quarter (I'm hoping in time for my excursion to ConDFW in February). Sadly, didn't quite make it this year.

2. Finish and publish my new Aston novel Resurrection.

Only finished the first draft on this one (now titled Life and Death). Perhaps I can get this expedited in time for my (hopefully I'm going, but still haven't heard from the organizers...) trip to ConQuest in May.

3. Publish another Triple-Shot.

This is one of the goals I actually did finish in its entirety...and if you haven't already picked up a copy, be sure to check out Payback and its companion stories.



4. Finish the next two novellas in the Max McCannor series.

Lyndon Perry and I have both been neck-deep in other projects for most of this year. Although I've been able to get the next installment, tentatively titled Runaway, started, it hasn't gone anywhere so far.

All in all, didn't get a lot completed toward the original goals, but hopefully 2015 will be a bit less hectic on the personal front, and I can get some momentum going. Looking forward to setting up a new post for 2015 tomorrow...

30 December 2014

Sales Update - December 2014

It's been another six months since my most recent sales update in June, so I have some updated numbers. Here goes:


Heroes Die Young also recently went into self-published status after contract termination, similar to Friends in Deed. Like that title, I'll stick with the total across both version in future updates, but will be separated for this one. The previous version sold 1 copy since June (the transition happened around September or so), while the new version has sold 12 copies, for a total of 480 sales (print and e-book total), which means 13 copies have sold since June (for a total of around 2 copies a month over the past six months). This compares to 25 copies sold in the December 2013 - June 2014 range, so sales are a bit down. September was the six-year anniversary of its release, so just under 80 copies per year.

Friends in Deed is chugging along at 134 copies (print and e-book total), which means that 9 copies have sold since December. This compares to around 25 copies during the previous reporting period (which also includes some of those self-accounting issues on the original version). January marks the five-year anniversary of this one, so the average is just over 25 copies per year.

Seeker is struggling along at 97 copies (print and e-book), so only 5 copies have sold since the last update (compared to 8 copies during last June's update). December is the 4-year anniversary for this novel, which means we're running just under an average of around 25 copies per year).

Dead or Alive has sold 101 copies, which means 3 copies have sold since June for a total of just 1 copy every other month over the past six months, compared to 15 copies over the previous twelve months. This title came out in February 2011, which means that we're seeing an average of about 25 copies a year.


The Cure has now sold 108 total copies (print and e-book total), so 1 copy has sold since my past update, compared to 14 copies during the previous update (a significant decrease over the past year, even). This book has been out over 3 years (the anniversary is in July 2011), so I'm seeing around 35 copies per year.

Death Brings Victory was released three years ago this past March, and 70 total copies have sold, meaning 6 copies have sold since the last update, compared to 4 copies during the previous update. This puts it on track with most of my other novels, at just over 25 copies per year.


I now have four Triple-Shot collections out, with the first having been released in November 2011, the second in July 2012, the third in September 2013, and the fourth in August 2014. 107 copies have sold, so 21 copies sold since my last update (versus 9 copies from the previous update). Breaking this down, 56 total copies of the first have sold (7 since the last update), 28 of the second (4 since the last update), 18 of the third (5 since the last update), and 5 of the fourth.


I also have my collaboration with Lyndon Perry, Escape. This title has been out a year now. I haven't gotten an update from Lyndon on all of his sales, but counting the last numbers I had from him and including my own personal sales, 16 copies have sold, so 2 copies have sold since June, for an average of just over 1 copy per month.



Now for the analysis of this latest period:

Since my latest update (June, except as noted above), I've sold 60 books compared to 114  books during the previous update for an average of 10 books per month.

And so I have a statistic when people ask (and quite often they do), the latest "total sales" number now stands at 1113 copies (counting all titles). I wish I could say I was glad for this number, but comparing it to other authors I know (which they say you should never do), it just makes it obvious why my motivation has been in the toilet as of late. Such is life, I suppose.

So, until next time, enjoy the statistics, and good sales to us all!
Thanks for stopping by!

20 December 2014

The Next 90 Days

So, it's been about another 90 days since my last update. Sadly, after completing my first draft of Life and Death, things just fell flat. I began working on a couple of projects, and then around the first week of October, everything stopped.

To be fair, life's circumstances got involved to a large extent, although in the past, that hasn't really stopped everything, just slowed it down a bit. Still, these specific circumstances have been fairly invasive, so who knows for sure?

Motivation has been in the tank, which is likely most of the issue. I start looking at things as a benefit-to-energy-expended ratio. In other words, why continue to put out so much effort at something that gains me nothing? Perhaps that's a bit short-sighted, but as I grow older (having reached another birthday during this period), I start to wonder how much more time I should continue to spend at this pursuit...

Now that I'm in the final stretch of the year, I do have some time off work, so we'll see whether I can get my final batches of editing done on both my novella Fallen, as well as the next Aston series novel, Life and Death. Combining that with my upcoming release of The Dirty Dozen short story collection, maybe things will finally turn the corner. Maybe the start of a brand new year will give me a fresh outlook on life (to be fair, 2014 has been a really crappy year).

So, who knows?