Looking over my year-end figures, it is Apple that ended up selling the most copies for me this past year (2012). This surprised me. During the first three quarters of the year, Barnes and Noble was the outlet that I was selling the most copies though.
Then during the fourth quarter, Apple pulled ahead of Barnes and Noble. And this is despite the fact that several of my ebooks do not get past the manual review for acceptable content...and I am too lazy to write cleaner, sweeter, vanilla versions for Apple (just like I am too lazy to write versions that Amazon would approve of).
[For those of you who are confused by this, and think that I should be writing watered-down versions to get past the censors, just remember that I have learned the hard way that it is best to crank out new material and save the "Oh dear, I am offending people" rewrite for those time periods that I am horribly blocked. My best return for time and energy spent is to write new material--after all, it is not like I am writing the Great American Novel.]
I am guessing that the sudden increase in my Apple sales is due to the expansion of the iBookstore to fifty countries. I understand why Mark Coker of Smashwords believes that Apple is a quiet giant--my last quarter sales really surprised me.
Then again, it might not be the expansion. My Barnes and Noble sales slumped during the final quarter; and based on the first ten days of this year, have still not recovered. No surprise that an erotica writer would discover that Xmas shopping season is his slowest season--or at least, I am not too surprised by it.
So I am going to be watching to see if Apple remains the best outlet for me this coming year, or if Barnes and Noble retakes the lead.
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3 comments:
I have a friend who swears by iTunes. It's the venue that made her a bestselling author everywhere else. :) I really need to start spending a few hours a week formatting stuff for iTunes and getting it up there.
What kind of book did Apple sell the most of?
I was surprised to hear that Erotica didn't sell MORE around Christmas time, considering all the new users of electronic devices BOOMS this time of year.
- Bonnie
UBC, sent me. :)
Interesting! I would never have guessed Apple would be the front runner but it makes sense with the recent expansion. Food for thought as I get ready to release my first ebook.
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