With all the fantasy writers out there publishing their stories as ebooks, you would think they would be likelier to find a dollar on the sidewalk than actually make a sale. But the happy fact is the market is throwing us some bones. I made over $500 in the first quarter of 2010 selling my four-part fantasy series The Rys Chronicles.
My sales figures break down like this:
From my website I sold 88 ebooks at $4.95 each for a total of $435.60.
At Smashwords and some of its retail partners I earned $145.25 for the first quarter of the year. I’m not sure how many units I sold because I do not have a report showing how many titles sold through Barnes & Noble and Kobo Books.
The sales total for my fantasy fiction ebooks is $580.85.
I market my fantasy series by giving away the first book Union of Renegades for free at all sources. This encourages reader sampling, and a portion of the samplers who like my writing then typically buy the rest of my novels. Many other writers follow a similar strategy.
When I consider the vast amount of choice people have for reading material, I am able to stay encouraged about my writing and publishing. I do not make huge sums of money, but I do hope to hit a tipping point some day and make more. I’m sure other authors spend substantial amounts of time engaged in this same day dream. The point is I do make some money and consistently too, which has already added up to thousands of dollars over the last four years. I have the medium of ebooks to thank for this because I can attract readers with the free sampling and lower-than-print-prices that ebooks make possible.
I’m essentially hustling up a secondary income with my fantasy fiction, which, from what I’ve read, is about what the majority of authors can expect. I’ve also had the privilege of connecting with readers all over the world who liked my work. The rise of ebooks has made these modest successes possible for me.
Editor’s Note: Tracy Falbe operates Brave Luck Books ™ http://www.braveluck.com where fantasy readers can sample her series by downloading Union of Renegades: The Rys Chronicles Book I. PB
