Anatomy Of A Flying Cat: An Irregular Creatures Update

The flying cats. They invade my dreams.

Okay, they don’t really. Last night though, I did have a dream where I had a sleepover — like you do in high school, except mysteriously, we were all adults. And instead of bringing a CD to listen to or your favorite Hanna Barbera pajamas, everybody had to bring a bladed weapon. I think we were on the lookout for a zombie attack? So I guess the sleepover was just a way to make the zombie apocalypse fun? I dunno.

I brought a camping machete. Leather sheath and all. It was very nice.

This is all irrelevant.

So! Irregular Creatures has reached the end of its first sales week. Okay, no, I didn’t advertise it until Wednesday, but dangit, it went up last Saturday. So, you shut up. No, you shut up! Stop touching me.

The Numbers

Sales-wise, I continue to be happy with the overall reports. As noted, I achieved profitability in the middle of the first day, and from that point haven’t looked back. Which is just an expression because clearly, I’m looking back with both vigor and scrutiny.

First day sales were brisk, as noted: Amazon (88), Amazon UK (7), PDF (15). Total of 110 sales.

Second day sales did a bit of an interesting flip-flip: PDF sales went up, while Amazon dropped. In fact, PDF sales out maneuvered all others that day: Amazon (13), Amazon UK (1), PDF (19). Total of 33.

Third day sales are at Amazon (7), Amazon UK (1), PDF (4). Total of 12.

Fourth day — Amazon (5), Amazon UK (0), PDF (1). Total of 6 sales.

No sales today, but it’s a wee smidge early, too.

Each day dropped by about 33% until the last, which saw a deeper 50% cut.

At present, we stand at 161 sales.

Random Thoughts

I went ahead and made some moves to try to, uhhh, “maximize my sales potential.” Eeeegh. I hate saying those words. I recognize the reality, but it’s one of those key things that will forever illustrate why self-publishing won’t totally dominate: many writers don’t want to become their own publisher. I don’t mind it, really, but trust me, the time and energy spent on this book? I’d rather have used it for writing.

I updated the Amazon description of the book on Thursday to include a description of each story. That still hasn’t populated here on Saturday morning. Amazon can be a wee bit slow.

I updated my Amazon Author Page.

I slapped a visual link to the right and updated the Books For Sale page above.

I updated my Goodreads author profile.

I have not yet played with Kindle Boards.

I’ve had some incredible reviews — some at Amazon, for instance. Cat-Bird stole Eric’s afternoon. The Unsanity Files describes the book as like nothing you’ve ever read.

The most glowing review comes, assuredly, from Elizabeth White (“All-Purpose Monkey”), where I think she sells the book far better than I have.

I did a couple interviews, arranged a couple giveaways. Also did a guest blog about cats and inspiration over at the aforementioned Elizabeth’s site: blog post called “Four Kinds of Kitty.” That blog maybe talks a little about vaginas, too, so, uhhh. Get excited?

Had a lot of great response about the tentpole story in the collection, “Dog-Man and Cat-Bird (A Flying Cat Story).” I mean, some really gushing praise, and for that, thank you so much. The fact that the collection got pimped across #fridayreads was equally awesome.

I slapped the book up on Smashwords, see if it’ll propagate from there.

Also arranging to get it up on Drive Thru Fiction.

My favorite sales are the PDF ones. Not just because I make the most money (which allows me to procure a higher class of hobo handjob), but also because it allows a small but compelling interaction with the audience. Instead of just a click, it’s an email, and an email is really a letter, and a letter is a connection between two people. It’s the 21st century way of selling the book on a street corner. Quaint. Probably not the future, and certainly not the way to a million sales, but more the equivalent of a book signing.

Would love to figure out a way to do a book signing, but with digital product.

Seen JC Hutchins’ Kilroy app? He will actually autograph your app. So, it’s possible.

Talking to horror bad-ass James Melzer about maybe a spoken podcast version of the stories.

Right now, my sales are largely within my own sphere of influence. The key is getting outside that circle. The key is getting into your circle of influence and beyond. One supposes I’ve sold to my core audience, so now it’s about pushing beyond those margins. I’m surprised that my Amazon entry still doesn’t list, “Those who have bought IRREGULAR CREATURES have also purchased SEVEN BRIDES FOR TEN MULES, BLOWJOBS FOR DRYADS, and THE LUDLUM PROLAPSE: A REXINALD PERRY ADVENTURE.” Does it for you? I dunno. Love to hear your reports and experiences.

Equally Random Questions

What else can I do?

Again, if anybody wants a review copy, please let me know. Definitely looking for places to do reviews and interviews and giveaways and sexy breathy podcasts and whatever else we can muster.

If anybody cares to write reviews on their spaces or at Amazon, I’d totally appreciate that, too.

Everybody liking the book?

Would I Self-Publish Again?

Way too early to say, but an interesting question just the same. I’m fairly happy with the results so far, but if the sales from here just drop off a cliff, I’d find myself less likely to do it. Would like to try to put up a novel or novella at some point just to see how that goes as another factor of the experiment, but I dunno. The fact I’m operating at a profit and not a loss after four days is a good sign for what is ultimately an unpopular purchasing target — the short story collection. But even still, it’s distracting from actual writing, which isn’t good. (Though I do recognize that having, say, a novel in stores is just as distracting what with the book tours and interviews and what-not. This may not be all that different. Even still, it’s nice to feel like you have a publisher pushing your work, a team backing your play. On the other hand, it’s also nice to be 100% in control of your own destiny.)

So, what I’m saying is, totally on the fence. Experiment not yet proven, not yet disproven.

The truth won’t probably be realized for months.