Fifth Income Report – August 2013

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

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In August I ran 2 free promos. The first was a 3 day long promo of my fitness book. It started on 2nd of August. The results were disappointing, just 199 downloads on Amazon.com. The direct effect was 2 copies sold on the first day after the promo.

On 22nd of August I started the second promo of personal mission statement book. It was 2 days long and the results were similar – 207 downloads.

Writing

I was writing a parenting book that month. This book proves that you can write about anything. In October 2012 I discovered that my son had problems at school. He was lazy and unfocused in his education which resulted in poor grades. I took care of tutoring him. I found he read very poorly, that his knowledge of English is almost non-existent and a couple of other issues. I addressed them via daily disciplines and he finished the school year with honors!

Ta-da, the book’s story was ready.

Writing it took me about a month. It’s my worst performing book ever, by the way. I didn’t do much market research prior to writing. But I don’t regret writing it at all. Teaching others automatically makes you focus on what you are teaching and as a result I become a better parent myself. In 2014 my son also finished his school year with honors.

Public domain

I also finished another side project that month—publishing 365 quotes from the Science of Getting Rich book. I wanted to learn how to publish a public domain work. And I did. I also discovered that you can’t sign up such work to the KDP Select program and you are eligible only for 35% royalties from it.

Another failed get-rich-quick scheme 😉

So I learned a few valuable lessons and maybe one day this pseudo-book will return my time investment (in the next 10 to 20 years). I also got a few subscribers through this work, because I offered to send those quotes every day straight to the subscriber’s mailbox.

Prices

I did some price testing. People are supposedly more likely to purchase items priced with the ending .99, because they perceive them as cheaper. So I priced my personal mission statement book at $0.99 and left it at this level for almost two weeks. I didn’t notice a significant change in sales and went back to $1.

I hate .99 endings. I was in the supermarket yesterday trying to clear a prepaid card with 5,2 balance. Almost all the products were priced with that effin ending! I hate them. I hate the fact that I need to add 0,01 to everything I buy to get some meaningful summary. For me it’s like red rag to a bull. That’s why I give all my books a round pricing point: $1 or $3.

The Income Report Breakdown

Income: Still zero.

Three full months and I didn’t earn a dime.

August 2013 was my best month in my publishing career so far. I sold 31 books. I had 3 days with a record 3 sales a day.

I earned a virtual $7.44.

Cost: $19, Aweber services (aff link).

Net result: -$19

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Previous Income Report: July 2013 || Next Income Report: September 2013