J. Michael Jones

I just had my first invoice from the book distributors. It appears, as of yesterday, I have sold 52 paperback versions in the US and 7 in the UK. The digital / Kindle numbers are not in yet.

If you have not been in my shoes as a writer, this number will sound pathetic, but it’s really not. I think I saw a statistic that over 90% of published books never sell over 100 copies. So, I am deeply grateful for those who have trusted me enough to buy the book.

The number of sales also is with no advertising, except by word of mouth and notices I’ve put here and on FaceBook.

I will wait to invest in advertising until I know if I have a good product to promote. I think I do. The six reviews on Amazon have been positive. I realize that there was a shortage of books at first and some, including me, have waited two weeks and still don’t have your copy. Once you get it, I do hope you will read it, although I appreciate the generous act of just buying a copy. When you get done reading it and you had a positive experience with it, leave a review on Amazon.

If you didn’t like the book, please don’t just be silent. Send me a private message about what you didn’t like. If I have several negative messages, I will not waste money in advertising. If I get a lot of negatives, I may give up writing completely. If there is a theme to the criticism, then I know that I have to change as a writer. I am working on chapter 14 of my new novel and I still have plenty of time to adjust my voice and my style.

If you do think this book was a good book, please share it on your Face Book page and recommend it to your friends. As a no-name author it is very hard to get a positive return on paid advertising. For example, I spent $500 on a google ad with one book and had $8 royalties from the sales of that advertising campaign. So, word of mouth is what makes it work for us.

Thanks again,

Mike