Are you curious about a one-year delay? I explained it in my first income report.


February had more high moments than the low ones.

First, Trickle Down Mindset sales exceeded my expectations, mainly thanks to the fact the royalties I earned in 20 days were more than my basic salary.
sales27I-16III
It was fortunate, because otherwise February was very mundane.

When I read through my journal it was all about writing, editing, receiving and replying to emails, more writing and editing, emergencies and boring meetings at my day job, some emergencies at home (like a broken furnace in the middle of winter), coaching, proofreading… Work, work, hustle and work.

The low(est) moment

I had spent the past two months organizing a book event on Buck Books. It was a slog. As you could read in my previous reports, I had a lot on my plate in my personal life, day job and writing, plus a few life’s nasty surprises. I kept working on the event anyway. I only managed to take 9 authors on board, and a few of them were beginners, with no list or a tiny list. But I had enrolled Susan RoAne with her books that sold millions of copies all over the world.
The event took place at the beginning of February and it was a bummer. I hinted at some promises based on the past performance of BB events and our results were nowhere near that level. I sold only 90 copies of “From Shy to Hi.”

This event undercut my enthusiasm for organizing book events. It was too much effort for too little reward. It was the last one I did.

Preparing “The Art of Persistence” launch

The big chunk of my hustle was preparing the next book launch. I incorporated the feedback of my beta-readers into the manuscript, asked a few people to contribute to the book, ordered editing from Archangel Ink (the edited manuscript came back at the end of the month), scheduled the launch date, set up an email list dedicated only for getting addresses of people who were interested in the book, and contacted several bloggers and authors asking them for cooperation.

This preparatory work always takes its toll on me. I love tasks like writing, which I can habitualize. If anything is not done on a daily basis and I need to keep track of it, it’s draining my willpower and energy.

Nonetheless, at the end of the month it was more or less prepared.

BB promo

In the middle of February, I had another BuckBooks promo, a farewell gift from Archangel Ink. I was a featured author. Unfortunately, in case of one book which was supposed to be included, Amazon didn’t drop the price in time.
This was an after-effect of moving my books to back to my old account. It seems that the copyright department is totally separate from daily KDP operations, because every time I changed something in my book for the first time, I was contacted by Amazon about infringement rights for the manuscript. Each time, I had to explain why my manuscripts were under a different account. That was unnerving.

Anyway, the promo, unlike the book event, went very well. I sold over 300 copies of my books that day.
Bestsellers

Paperbacks

I neglected publishing paperbacks of a few of my smaller books. January was really crazy and I didn’t find time for that. Urged by the book event, I finally managed to upload all of my manuscripts to CreateSpace.

Sales-wise and revenue-wise, this was a very good month, because it was promo-heavy. In fact, it was my record month. I sold 1,434 copies (almost 400 of them during promos). As I mentioned, the sales of “Trickle Down Mindset” were excellent too.

For the first time I generated more royalties than my salary. It was a great feeling.

Writing

I was writing the next volume of Six Simple Steps to Success.

A significant email

I’m so glad of my journal, which lets me register my emotions at their high. On 23rd of February I received an email from a reader. A few fragments:

“THANK YOU SO MUCH Michael for writing your personal mission statement and making becoming a writer a reality. ”

“This is the first book I’ve read from “cover to cover” in 33 years”

“but my heart is empty… it’s all broken pieces at the bottom of it. YOU my dear sir have changed that…”

I wrote in my journal:

“I cried. I cry every time I re-read those words. This one message was worth every hour of struggle along the way. I’m so grateful for being where I am, for influencing people’s lives. I’m ready for anything the future will bring me.”

The last sentence was of course a big exaggeration. Future always brings surprises; that’s its charm. Nonetheless, that email lifted my spirits immensely. And yes, my eyes are a bit wet each time I come back to that email. And yes, I love what I am doing.

The Income Report Breakdown

Income $0
It was the month of the hole between my Archangel Ink and Amazon payments.

Costs:
$10.5, proofreading services Fiverr
$1, audiobook from Buck Books

Total: -$11.5

Net Result: -$11.5


Previous Income Report: January 2015 || Next Income Report: March 2015

Twenty Third Income Report – February 2015 (-$11.5)

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