Well, here we are.
It’s been 90 days already. My first Enrollment period of KDP Select is complete. January 13th I nervously clicked the “Save and Publish” button on my debut novel HOOD feeling like there was so much I didn’t know. 90 days of marketing and research, here I am a hell of a lot more knowledgeable on the industry. So, time to look back at my results.
Assessment?
F***ing awesome.
Can’t really figure another way to say it. To call it surreal is a bit of an understatement. Yeah, It’s not the #1 book on Amazon or anything. But hell, being in the top 2,000 is most of the way there.
My graph of results from my first 90 days (I know my launch day, Jan. 13th is cut off by Amazon for some reason, rest easy though I sold 0 books and had 0 page reads 😀 )
Flump yeah.
By the numbers
Books sold: 1,515
Estimated KU Pagereads: 765,000
Books sold/Day: 16.8
Highest Rankings: #1,248 Paid in Kindle Store, #8 in Metaphysical & Visionary Sci Fi, #13 in Post-Apocalyptic Sci Fi
Final Thoughts
I have yet to do any real paid promos, exception being two Goodreads Giveaways. One coincided with my KCD (Feb. 14th-20th) and the other I started a week or so ago and has yet to complete. The extent of my marketing has been grassroots social-media style on twitter and Facebook, reaching out to people both known and unknown to try and spread the word.
While I don’t yet fully know where my results land on the greater spectrum of Indie Authorship, from what I can gather this is pretty rare. I count myself lucky it came out this well… yes, I worked my ass off on writing my novel, but I made my cover myself (with the help of Gertie from Apocalypse Whenever for her photoshopping skillz) and that could’ve been a disaster as I don’t know what I’m doing in that department… I got a lot of support from Evan C. of FromTheWastes on Twitter as well as for sharing his insights with me.
All that being said, I’m damn proud of the book and how it’s been received. Having readers reach out to me over the book has been incredible. I know now the best thing I can do is focus in on writing BOOK 2, and everything else is secondary. But I’m excited and curious what the future will bring, and whether or not these kinds of numbers are sustainable.
Thanks for reading. And remember, when traveling back in time, be very careful not to squish anything.
-Evan Pickering
Evan Pickering - Author 
You did very well.
That is very impressive for the first 90 days! Is that only for one book? Holy cow, my graph looks nothing like yours. Just a few spikes here and there for the various promos I’ve done. I’d love to know what kind of marketing you’re doing, because it’s obviously working. Nice job!
Yep, that’s for HOOD! Marketing wise, I didn’t pay for anything except for two Goodreads giveaways which I’d highly recommend. Other than that, I wrote on this blog, I did alot of tweets to peeps and hashtags about the book, I spread the word to people I knew on facebook, and I gave away some free copies to ppl on a subreddit. That’s about it! Oh and I gave the book to some reviewers, but most reviews haven’t come in yet.
Hope that helps!
That’s incredible. I’ve tried most of that and had subpar results. It’s only now that I’m putting out more books that I’m seeing more sales.
Thanks man. Yeah dude I’ve heard that more books is king in this business. Now I just have to freaking write them NBD lol
You were a weird-kinda-out-there-thinking kid, and I loved every crazy thought you had. This is a culmination of years of incredible imagination and willingness to share. I applaud you amazing marketing, your generosity and who you are!!! Love you, Evan Thomas. xoxoxoxoxo Momma
Thank you for encouraging my weird, imaginative goofy side, while loving and supporting me all the way 🙂 You’re the best mom, I wouldn’t have any of this without you. I love you for always.
Why am I not surprised? Thank you for sharing your writing journey. So very cool . . . a dream come true!!
So proud of you Evan–and you are so smart to start thinking about getting book number 2 done!
Thanks Traci!! I certainly like to pick the minds of great indie authors online who share their knowledge… and most of the authors I talked to said “Get to work on book 2!!” haha
Excellent results dude! Encouraging. I hope my novel gains the same traction. Congrats!
Thanks man! Just gotta put in the work and learn the easy way from those who’ve learned the hard way 🙂