New Blog and Updates

I'm going to be super busy this month on a personal project, along with finishing up the next Timecaster book.

I've created a blog for my project here:

http://30daybeerdiet.blogspot.com

As you can see by the URL, I'm going on a diet. A very special diet where I won't eat any food for 30 days.

Instead, I'll subsist on beer.

Yes, I'm serious. One unintended side-effect of the ebook revolution is that I spend 17 hours a day in front of my computer, and the only real exercise I get is sex, which amounts to about three minutes a week.

As a result, I've become a real fat ass. But there's no way I'd ever give up beer, which I love. So instead I'm going to stop eating.

I started today.

I think this is a really good idea, but that may be because I've been drinking all day on an empty stomach.

The Newbie's Guide will continue, mostly via guest posts. If you've sent me a a guest post, keep an eye out because I may post it without any warning.

I've gotten a lot of email about the KDP Select Program from writers asking if I endorse it or not. Though December ended, we won't find out how much each pro rata borrow share (of a $500,000 pot) is worth until later this month, so I can't comment on that. But those of you who were paying attention noticed I released most of my ebooks for free during the last week of December.

The ability to make your ebook free to all Amazon customers (not just Prime members) for a period of five days is a perk of the KDP Select Program. And quite a perk it is. Making my books free helped get them onto the free bestseller lists, and when the free period ended many of them got onto the paid bestseller lists.

But you want numbers, right?

I won't have the exact figures until I get my December totals from Amazon, but I'm pleased to say that from Dec 25 - Dec 31 I made more than $50,000.

It has slowed down a little since then. Yesterday I made about $5500, and today I'm currently (6pm) at $4000.

I'm curious to see what Amazon will give authors per Prime download, because I've had a few thousand of those.

I've seen a lot of grumbling over the fact that inclusion in the KDP Select Program means making the title exclusive to Kindle. Obviously, I don't see a problem with that. Besides, it is only for three months.

Ebooks are forever, remember?

I still can't give the program my full endorsement until more data comes in, but so far I'm thrilled with it. I also have to admit that even though I scored big with two titles, The List and Trapped, my many other titles aren't doing nearly as well. The List, which is still in the Top 100, has sold 2832 copies this year, with 1153 borrows.  Shot of Tequila is at 547 sales, and 167 borrows. Origin is 458 sales and 245 borrows. Trapped is 319 sales and 192 borrows, and Endurance is 207 sales and 154 borrows. So even if we take The List out of the equation, my other top-selling titles are earning me about $800 a day, or $300k a year, which ain't chump change.

How long will this last? I dunno. Perhaps I just caught the perfect wave, and this will be impossible to replicate.

But remember my New Year's Resolutions list, when I talked about doing experiments and taking chances?

I took a big chance, making my ebook free during the Christmas holiday week. I could have lost a bundle. Instead, I was lucky it paid off. No guts, not glory.

That said, in 2011 the months of January - April were very good months. I don't see why they won't be good this year as well.

Happy new year, everyone! I gotta go crack another beer.