400,000 ebook sales and counting ...

This isn't 200,000 authors selling two books each. It's one author selling 400,000+ ebooks:

http://indieiq.com/2012/10/23/meet-nick-spalding-400000-ebook-sales-and-counting/

"Writing the right book at the right time for the right people."

I think that says much. Plus a cover that grabs attention.

Good info.

WOW! He done good!

I've been doing a bit of research. Another British children's author has the first book in her series of books permanently free to encourage readers to buy the next books in the series. That first, free book has 374 reviews on Amazon UK and 256 reviews on Amazon US. The second book (published in Feb, 2011), has 62 reviews on the UK site and 26 on the US site. The fourth book (published Nov, 2012) has 18 reviews on the UK site and 12 on the US site.

Although the fourth book is making sales on both Amazon US and Amazon UK, the sales ranks and number of reviews suggest that the number of sales is not increasing by much and is possibly decreasing book by book.

The number of reviews show that a great deal of effort was made in promoting the first book in the series of five books, but this has not generated an increase in interest/sales of the second, third and fourth books.

After delving a little more into the performance of the books, today I found out that the first book of the series has had 500,000 downloads on Amazon US and the publisher of the book has optioned movie rights for the first book in the series with Los Angeles based Delve Films:

http://pengridion.sharepoint.com/Pages/BookNews.aspx

All this has not led to the book taking off, which I found a bit perplexing and somewhat discouraging. How can a book with 500,000 downloads not lead to sales for the next books in the series? Of course, it has led to sales, but not dramatically. The obvious reason for the book not taking off is the lack of marketing. You have to spend money to make money in business. Risk taking is part of the equation. However, this didn't answer the problem completely. As always, my brain ticked away quietly without any interference from me and found a solution. So, what conclusion did I reach? Answer: the downloads are by adults with Kindles; the book is written for children. Adults will enjoy reading a children's book without feeling obliged or compelled to follow the series. Conversely, children will want to read the next book ... and the next book ...

So, ebooks for the moment are mainly read by adults, which is why we do not read stories about children's book authors having the same degree of success as Nick Spalding.

Good conclusion!

All right. I'm motivated and in search of the right book at the right time for the right people. I'm thinking Gay Vampire Zombie Apocalypse: A Post Modern Porn Techno Thriller. It will be a coming of age story about a nubile teenage prostitute who is infected by a 200,000 year-old bug in a meteorite that strikes her car while she's turning a trick during lunch at her high school that immediately turns her into a zombie and her John (I mean Jane) into a vampire. The John/Jane bites her, 'cause that's what vampires do, and she turns into a zombpire--the First of Her Kind. And there's stuff in it about global warming, evil megalomaniacal corporate types, ghosts, possessed light bulbs and, of course, aliens (from other planets, or maybe the Moon, not like Mexico or anything silly like that) posing as Senators and cabinet heads. And, oh yeah, a world scarred by nanotechnology wars spurred on by greedy corporations trying to infect us all with nanites that tell us what, when and where to buy stuff.

Forget about selling books. I'm going to Hollywood to pitch this right now. See you in the movies.

Sounds like the making of a good comedy, Victor.

Go to it, Victor. I think it will sell.

I would prefer your autobiography.

Some day, Alice. This summer I hope to get back to working on my first novel which has been on hold for too long.

If you're going strictly for the commercial value why go to all that trouble? An erotic vampire story in outer space is sufficient.

Just trying to cover all the bases, DK, in what I hope was an appropriately poorly worded post as writing quality and substance are of secondary importance in many markets (and even less important in TV/movie scripts).