She Writes

Michael N. Marcus
The power of e-books

The power of e-books

Contributor

Written by

Michael N. Marcus

June 2011

Read more by Michael N. Marcus

As one of the few HeWriter members of SheWrites, I generally stay in the background. However, my recent sales experience with an e-book is so important I have to share it with the SheWriters.

I used eBookIt.com to handle the conversion of my Stories I'd Tell My Children (but maybe not until they're adults) book, and I've been quite pleased with the company's quality, speed, service and price.

The book has gotten excellent reviews, but I never expected it to be a great seller. It's a mostly humorous memoir initially written for my friends and family. I later revised it to try to reach a bigger audience. I'm not Tina Fey, Sarah Silverman or Artie Lange, so fame won't sell it. And, unlike my nonfiction books which are sold to people who search for relevant topics, this book depends on social media and viral marketing.

In April, I sold a grand total of five copies of the paperback, and earned a grand total of $38.75. The cover price is $15.95.
In May, sales of the paperback dropped to ONE pathetic copy, which earned me a pathetic $7.75.
HOWEVER, yesterday I got the report on my e-books sales for May. I earned $394.56 on 135 books selling for $4.99 each. Some days I sold just one or two books. Other days I sold as many as a dozen.

Surprisingly, the vast majority were sold from Apple's iBookStore. Just a few were sold by Amazon or B&N.

If any of you have been hesitating to go "e," try it.

Michael N. Marcus
-- http://www.BookMakingBlog.blogspot.com

-- http://www.BooksForAuthors.com (reviews)
-- CTRL + Click to follow link"">http://www.Self-Pub.info
-- Create Better Books, with the Silver Sands Publishing Series: CTRL + Click to follow link"">http://www.silversandsbooks.com/booksaboutpublishing.html
-- "Stories I'd Tell My Children (but maybe not until they're adults)," CTRL + Click to follow link"">http://www.amazon.com/dp/0981661750