Thursday, April 19, 2012

State of the Website: eBook Sales

My book for the 83rd Academy Awards is back in the Top 100 best sellers for movie review and reference guides.  This is the third time the book has jumped into the best sellers in the Kindle store.  When it went to number 1 early this year and stayed there are almost six weeks, I know it was likely because I launched it during the height of Oscar season.  Once the Oscars ended though, it was time to move on and go back to buying review books from Roger Ebert.  Then it went back into the best sellers and I got it excited.  Then it dropped out.  Then it was in and out.  Now it's in again.  I know it will go out, but the fact that it keeps going in means people are recommending the book and people are buying it based on those recommendations.

I don't know who's doing it, but that gives me hope.  See, I'm currently taking pre-orders for my book on the 84th Academy Awards.  Since there were a certain number of people who wanted it in paperback, I figured I'd give Kickstarter one more try for those people.  At the moment, the project has only raised $20, which means a new paperback book is looking unlikely.  But you know what...that doesn't really scare me.  Because since my book is a success in eBook form, that means I have an audience to grow with less overhead cost.  I've found a niche and am exploiting it for all it's worth.  After this Kickstarter project, who knows if I'll even try it again for older books.

I'll just make the books available through online retailers.  I tell you, I've come a long way from reviewing movies on MySpace to publishing books that are starting to bring in a little bit of profit.  I'm pretty exited to see where this will all head in five years.  Also, I've decided as a result of this, that I'm going to shut down my Movie Wizard.com Updates blog and instead use my Oscar blog as the place for my updates.  No use in splitting up the audience if this is where the future of the site is headed.  Speaking of which, I'm going to the theater today to see the last film I need to see for my next book and it will be DONE!  And while I'm not as concerned with it succeeded, if you want to help make at least one more paperback book a reality feel free to do so: