1000

1000.  This morning when I woke up I checked my sales numbers for Vampire Dreams and Love's Master and they totaled to just over 1000 sales. 

When I began writing, it was because it made me happy.  I had a story to tell, so I wrote it down.  Then when I finished it, I decided I'd try to get it published. When that happened, it wasn't what I'd expected but it was a milestone and I appreciated it. 

Then I made the decision to indie publish, and on June 1, Vampire Dreams went up for sale at Smashwords, All Romance eBooks, and Amazon (B&N took until June 11 to come online).  The first month I sold 150 books.  As I wrote on July 1, I had no idea what to imagine when I began this, so 150 was a number I could feel good about. 

On July 11, I put Love's Master up at all four outlets.  I must have done something right that time because it came online almost immediately at all four stores.  That book has been out for three weeks, and it's currently doing better than Vampire Dreams did in its first month. (Note:  Vampire Dreams was sold at $1.99 for the first month of its release, so that skews the data a bit here.)  Next Friday, I'll have the numbers for Love's Master, but I'm very pleased with how it's doing.

I knew it would be a challenge selling a trilogy of books that are only linked by the period in history in which they're set.  Vampire Dreams is an erotic paranormal historical romance (light on the history and heavy on the vampires), while Love's Master is an erotic historical romance with some light BDSM.  Masquerade, the third novella in what I've named the Victorian Erotic Romance Trilogy, is an erotic historical romance, with no paranormal or kink involved.  It's also a bit lighter than the first two, and almost twice as long as Vampire Dreams at 30,000 words.  That novella is due out on August 30, and hopefully readers of the first two will enjoy it just as much, even though it doesn't have vampires or kink.  :D  It does have an incredibly sexy Russian and the most headstrong heroine I've ever written, so readers should expect passion.

It should be noted that I don't include my novel, Stolen Destiny, in my sales numbers.  This is because I have no control over where it's sold and how much it's sold for at any place.  My publisher determines this.  So for the first four weeks, the book was only sold at Siren's site, but it's recently been moved to Amazon also, but not Barnes and Noble or All Romance eBooks.  In addition, I have no reliable sales numbers yet from my publisher concerning my Amazon sales.  There the book has ebbed and flowed between the mid 50K rank and the mid 100K rank, but I don't know any official numbers.  Therefore, none of the sales from that book figure into the 1000 sales milestone of today. 

Nine weeks ago, I took a step into the indie publishing world.  I hoped it would turn out well, but I can't say I was sure it would.  For me, this has been an incredible journey, and it's only really just begun.  Masquerade comes out in a little over three weeks, Destiny Redeemed is scheduled for an October release, and I'm working toward a mid-December release of Vasilije's story.  I hope readers continue to stick around because I'm just getting started.