Now for a dose of reality.
While 2014 started off with a bang for me, I sold 105 books in January, with 74 copies of Shadows of the Past being purchased, I only earned $39.51 in royalties. My best month was in March when I sold 56 copies but earned nearly a buck a sale, making $50.03 in royalties for the month. For the entire year I had 396 sales, and gave away 15,385 copies via two perma-free short stories and a couple of Select free promos. For all of 2014 I earned $281.78 in royalties.
My collection of short stories, 9 Dark Tales, earned me the most for the year. Running a free promo in March I gave away 255 copies, but sold 16 copies at the full price, earning $35.42 in royalties for that month. for the whole year I sold 64 copies and earned $128.59 in royalties.
For my novel, Shadows of the Past, I ran two promos during the year and gave away 1,225 copies, selling an additional 214 copies for the year, but since it is only priced at $0.99 I only earned $74.68 in royalties for that title.
On the writing front I released two novels, White Walker, and Parasite: Shadows of the Past Part II, as well as part one of my 30,000 word novella Bordertown: Meat Goes to Richmond.
Some things to note though. I have no marketing budget, nor do I have the time to spend a majority of my day online promoting my work. I work a full time job in retail and majority of my money goes towards paying the monthly bills. As I like to tell people, I've developed a few bad habits during my life, such as eating, staying warm and dry, and having a comfortable place to sleep.
Writing for me is most of the time a pleasure. Yeah, there are times when the muse teases me and the words refuse to flow, but all in all I'd keep writing even if I didn't make anything. Yet at the same time I feel a writer should be paid for their work. I'll keep producing and maybe in time I'll make enough to supplement my income, at the current rate I'm not going to be retiring from the daily work force any time soon.
New Release: BorderTown Zombie serial.
Until this point in my writing career I've only written two short stories dealing with Zombies, both of which appeared in my collection, 9 Dark Tales, that can be found by clicking here.
Till Death Do We Part: Focused on a down on his luck, unemployed, middle aged man who kisses his wife goodbye on the morning of the zombie apocalypse. Going back to bed he is awakened later to discover a distressed message from his wife, and a world that has been turned upside down. Throughout the story he receives calls from his wife, answering them only to be greeted by strange sounds he cannot place. She returns home changed. I'm not going to reveal the ending here as I don't want to spoil the story for anyone who may want to read it.
The second story was titled Don't Mess With The Pizza Guy, and dealt with a fictional pizza delivery guy named Meat, working in the post apocalyptic world twenty years after the Zombie apocalypse. He had been born during the apocalypse and his mother named him Meat, as that was all he appeared to be given the circumstances. He survived, she didn't. Taken in by the man he called Dad he wound up in the fenced community of Bremo Bluff where a co-genreation had operated since the mid fifties.
Those that established Bremo Bluff in the early days understood there was safety in numbers so they welcomed survivors, both good and bad, creating a place called BorderTown for the less desirable members of society. BorderTown would serve as a buffer between Bremo Bluff and the uncivilized world beyond.
Twelve years after the awakening, as it came to be called among other things, Meat and three of his friends embark upon an adventure to retrieve several young children who had been taken by a savage band of kids that had infiltrated Bremo Bluff. Their goal is to be scavengers as those who venture beyond the fence in search of supplies are held in the highest regard within the community.
Their adventure will be a blend of the coming of age story The Body, mixed with the savagery of The Lord of the Flies.
Meat Goes to Richmond Part 1, is the first installment in what will become an ongoing serial. Each installment will be no less than 10,000 words,and priced at $0.99 ea. Part 2 will release near the end of January with part 3 following a month later, at which point I will bundle the three parts into a novella.
Armageddon Air Force (no cover available) will find Meat and his band searching for a weapon to counter a coming attack from the south with the first part released at the end of March, and subsequent installments following approximately every thirty days.
Check back often to follow my progress or sign up to be notified of new releases as they become available by going here: http://eepurl.com/2bYSf
Till Death Do We Part: Focused on a down on his luck, unemployed, middle aged man who kisses his wife goodbye on the morning of the zombie apocalypse. Going back to bed he is awakened later to discover a distressed message from his wife, and a world that has been turned upside down. Throughout the story he receives calls from his wife, answering them only to be greeted by strange sounds he cannot place. She returns home changed. I'm not going to reveal the ending here as I don't want to spoil the story for anyone who may want to read it.
The second story was titled Don't Mess With The Pizza Guy, and dealt with a fictional pizza delivery guy named Meat, working in the post apocalyptic world twenty years after the Zombie apocalypse. He had been born during the apocalypse and his mother named him Meat, as that was all he appeared to be given the circumstances. He survived, she didn't. Taken in by the man he called Dad he wound up in the fenced community of Bremo Bluff where a co-genreation had operated since the mid fifties.
Those that established Bremo Bluff in the early days understood there was safety in numbers so they welcomed survivors, both good and bad, creating a place called BorderTown for the less desirable members of society. BorderTown would serve as a buffer between Bremo Bluff and the uncivilized world beyond.
Twelve years after the awakening, as it came to be called among other things, Meat and three of his friends embark upon an adventure to retrieve several young children who had been taken by a savage band of kids that had infiltrated Bremo Bluff. Their goal is to be scavengers as those who venture beyond the fence in search of supplies are held in the highest regard within the community.
Their adventure will be a blend of the coming of age story The Body, mixed with the savagery of The Lord of the Flies.
Available at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00I43NP2K
Meat Goes to Richmond Part 1, is the first installment in what will become an ongoing serial. Each installment will be no less than 10,000 words,and priced at $0.99 ea. Part 2 will release near the end of January with part 3 following a month later, at which point I will bundle the three parts into a novella.
Armageddon Air Force (no cover available) will find Meat and his band searching for a weapon to counter a coming attack from the south with the first part released at the end of March, and subsequent installments following approximately every thirty days.
Check back often to follow my progress or sign up to be notified of new releases as they become available by going here: http://eepurl.com/2bYSf
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