Going Indie - Day 9: All Jacked Up

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So I jacked up my neck a couple days ago, and I have no idea how I did it. All I know is that when I turn my head at a certain angle, pain shoots through my muscles and tendons. It's even uncomfortable when I swallow. Perhaps it's the result of sitting down too long, but I suspect I strained it while playing with my son. I also could have just slept on it wrong. Who knows?

Eventually it will go away, but it isn't any fun. I found out the hard way that I shouldn’t be driving. But I can write…

Despite this annoyance, I got Alphabet All-Stars: Funny Flashcards out the door this morning. I wasn't planning on doing another flashcard book, but all the pieces fell into place. It was better that I went ahead and did it now rather than add another project to my never-ending queue.

With today's release and the mini-collection that I published last night, I'm up to 58 total works. Three of them are banned on Amazon because they're in Indonesian, which isn't one of the approved Kindle languages. It's crappy when I scan over my backlist and see these titles in bright yellow; but the situation will correct itself, as will my neck.

Occasionally I take a break from the rigors of content creation and look at what other indie authors are doing. Sharlene Alexander has a unique approach. She has an e-book called 100 Fun Stories for 4-8 Year Olds which is currently #482 overall. With that ranking, she’s probably averaging 100 sales/day. Since her royalty is 70 cents per copy, she's making at least $70/day, not to mention borrows and any other sales in her catalog of 60 products. She's royally kicking my butt by targeting the value-conscious shopper. Very impressive.

Keep in mind also that this product started out as a collection of 20 stories, which then grew to 40, and eventually 100. I've been thinking of putting together something like this for a while, but she beat me to it. After locating the artwork this morning, I will be putting together my value title with a slight twist: humor will be the aim rather than traditional fairy tales/bedtime stories.

With that in my arsenal, I should be able to ignite sales; however, I will take the same staggered approach as Sharlene and build it a little at a time. Personally, I would love to have 1,001 funny stories for kids, but that's a little overboard. 100 stories for $1.99 is an exceptional value. Heck, let’s make it 101!

All in all, it's been a decent month. I've added 19 new products in the last 4 weeks, and have been able to turn my sales around. There's still a lot of work to do, and I'm not even close to where I want to be. But my performance in this challenging month gives me hope, and no pain in the neck or anything else is going to stand in my way.

Better days lie ahead. I will make this journey a success.

I know what I must do. I will not falter.

Scott Gordon

Proud Indie Author