Sunday, January 5, 2020
I sold a book in China! I sold a book in China! I have my three solo-published books available through a world-wide distributor. I have written two children’s books and a scrapbook for business marketing. The distributor makes my books available to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other booksellers in the United States and around the globe. I do not sell a lot of books through my distributor and until this past August, I do not think I have ever sold two books in the same or consecutive months.
My sales reports have always been the same. I have sold one print-on-demand book and they will send me approximately $5.00 within 90 days. I do not promote my books by doing interviews or advertising so any time I get a sale I do a happy dance. Today I am doing a happy leap! I did sell an eBook version of My Medieval ABCs in the summer of 2018, but until two days ago (which I found out about today) that was the only sales compensation report anomaly.
Today I checked the email account my distributor sends correspondence to and I saw my regular report dated 1-4-2020. I then noticed a second report dated 1-3-2020. I clicked the 1-3-2020 email because it read global in the subject line instead of Print on Demand. I was intrigued; how could this email be a duplicate like I frequently get for payment notices if it had a different subject line? Why did it read global?
I opened the attached file and it looked just like the reports I have gotten in the past except, near the title of the book, it read, China. I sold a book in China! I sold a book in China! Happy leap! Somewhere in China someone is reading my silly fart book, Little Baby Poot-Poot, to their child. How can I help but be excited?
The sales reports I get from the distributor do not have much data in them. This report did include the name of the country that originated the sale and the eBook report did include the name of the eBook seller (not Amazon), but that is the only identifiable information I get. The regular print-on-demand reports simply state the name of the book, how many you sold, and compensation information. I do not know if my books were sold through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or a bookseller I have never heard of (like my eBook).
I would like to be able to get bookseller information. I had a flurry of book sales (even my children’s books) from July through December and I would like to know who sold them. I published and released the 80th Hinton Family Reunion Cookbook that my sister compiled on August 1, 2019. It is a collection of family and family-loved recipes from our extended family. My sister told everyone who did not buy the fifty physical copies she brought to our event in August to purchase them on Amazon, so I am sure most of the 52 copies we sold through the distributor were sold on Amazon.
My sister set the price low enough to make $2.00 on each print copy to donate to Hinton Family Reunion fund which is used to rent our venue, provide disposable tableware for those that are unable to bring their own, and provide prizes for our annual reunion picnic; and still be very affordable for everyone to purchase. We sold enough cookbooks to donate more than $100 this coming August.
I also published and released a scrapbook for business owners at the end of August. I managed to sell 14 copies without any promotion at all (I was in the hospital when it was released). I would really like to know where those copies were sold. I created My Marketing History Book to gift to my clients when I thought I had put this whole cancer thing behind me and was shocked my book had been found by anyone.
My piece of advice to you is celebrate every success no matter how tiny. Do your happy dance or happy leap as often as possible. I sold a book in China! I sold a book in China! Happy leap!
Until next time,
Susanne
Please check out my GoFundMe page.
I sold a book in China! I sold a book in China! I have my three solo-published books available through a world-wide distributor. I have written two children’s books and a scrapbook for business marketing. The distributor makes my books available to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other booksellers in the United States and around the globe. I do not sell a lot of books through my distributor and until this past August, I do not think I have ever sold two books in the same or consecutive months.
My sales reports have always been the same. I have sold one print-on-demand book and they will send me approximately $5.00 within 90 days. I do not promote my books by doing interviews or advertising so any time I get a sale I do a happy dance. Today I am doing a happy leap! I did sell an eBook version of My Medieval ABCs in the summer of 2018, but until two days ago (which I found out about today) that was the only sales compensation report anomaly.
Today I checked the email account my distributor sends correspondence to and I saw my regular report dated 1-4-2020. I then noticed a second report dated 1-3-2020. I clicked the 1-3-2020 email because it read global in the subject line instead of Print on Demand. I was intrigued; how could this email be a duplicate like I frequently get for payment notices if it had a different subject line? Why did it read global?
I opened the attached file and it looked just like the reports I have gotten in the past except, near the title of the book, it read, China. I sold a book in China! I sold a book in China! Happy leap! Somewhere in China someone is reading my silly fart book, Little Baby Poot-Poot, to their child. How can I help but be excited?
The sales reports I get from the distributor do not have much data in them. This report did include the name of the country that originated the sale and the eBook report did include the name of the eBook seller (not Amazon), but that is the only identifiable information I get. The regular print-on-demand reports simply state the name of the book, how many you sold, and compensation information. I do not know if my books were sold through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or a bookseller I have never heard of (like my eBook).
I would like to be able to get bookseller information. I had a flurry of book sales (even my children’s books) from July through December and I would like to know who sold them. I published and released the 80th Hinton Family Reunion Cookbook that my sister compiled on August 1, 2019. It is a collection of family and family-loved recipes from our extended family. My sister told everyone who did not buy the fifty physical copies she brought to our event in August to purchase them on Amazon, so I am sure most of the 52 copies we sold through the distributor were sold on Amazon.
My sister set the price low enough to make $2.00 on each print copy to donate to Hinton Family Reunion fund which is used to rent our venue, provide disposable tableware for those that are unable to bring their own, and provide prizes for our annual reunion picnic; and still be very affordable for everyone to purchase. We sold enough cookbooks to donate more than $100 this coming August.
I also published and released a scrapbook for business owners at the end of August. I managed to sell 14 copies without any promotion at all (I was in the hospital when it was released). I would really like to know where those copies were sold. I created My Marketing History Book to gift to my clients when I thought I had put this whole cancer thing behind me and was shocked my book had been found by anyone.
My piece of advice to you is celebrate every success no matter how tiny. Do your happy dance or happy leap as often as possible. I sold a book in China! I sold a book in China! Happy leap!
Until next time,
Susanne
Please check out my GoFundMe page.