Inspiration from Numbers

Inspiring image all by itself.

Normally, when the quarterly report comes in I have a pretty good idea how it’s going to read.  Tracking online sales and physical books sales is little like divining water using a telescope from space.  Sure, you’re probably seeing the liquid stuff, you just don’t know you’re seeing it.

Which brings us to today’s numbers for the first quarter of 2016:

Quarter	Books Sold	Running Total
1 Quarter 2016	71	217

That’s more books sold than the entire first year that Tears of Heaven was released.  It’s almost twice as many books sold as the last quarter of 2015 (36).  It is not, of course, give-up-this-life-of-crime-and-retire-to-a-small-moon money.  But it does mean either a higher grade of Scotch from the bottom shelf, or twice the Scotch as before!

What’s the lesson learned here for writers?  Well, Hell Becomes Her released toward the end of November, 2015.  It’s a direct sequel to Tears of Heaven, which generated some reciprocal marketing all on its own.  Hell Becomes Her can serve as a standalone book, but there’s plenty of information about Del and Marrin and Ahadiel to be had from Tears of Heaven.

So what you’ve heard about having multiple books in a series out is very true: you’ll see increased sales numbers in all titles.

If you were looking for inspiration from a purely mathematical/financial impact—you’re welcome!