Slow but steady sales.

I had a minimum sales goal for Led to the Slaughter, which I immediately reached. (Very, very modest, but better than I'd proven I could do on my own.)

I had a secondary goal which I'm pretty sure I'll reach.   (Still very modest.)

I had a third goal which I probably won't reach, but which is at least in the realm of possibility.

The fourth goal was the hitting the sales lottery.  Which, you know, I knew wasn't going to happen.

What is somewhat encouraging is that the pace of sales, while by no means lighting the world on fire, has stayed somewhat consistent five months later.  Which means it is selling by itself.  Without any neighbors, family, or friends being the cause.

I notice that whenever my title is included in an Amazon email, there is a boost in sales for a couple of days.  (The emails are obviously tailored, so I'm seeing my book on top of the list which I doubt happens everywhere.)

Smashwords looked very encouraging at first.  I was high up on the bestseller lists for a few months -- but it turned out my publisher was right and sales were minimal.

I'm releasing Freedy Filkins with a new cover and title.  Cyber Flash is the new title.  If you remember, I took it down from Smashwords because I called it a "Hobbit" Cyberpunk in the description, which turned out to be a mistake because the Tolkien estate is very aggressive about these things.

I had a few loose references to the Hobbit, nothing direct.  Certainly the story, which has nothing but real people and technology, is something that most people would never guess was inspired by the Hobbit.

So I thought I'd just do a quick rewrite talking out the "loose references."  However, Amazon had no trouble with the book, and so I'm going to go with Amazon exclusively.  Fuck it.  The book is fine the way it is.

I've slowed down selling Led to the Slaughter at the store, mostly because I don't want to be that annoying guy who hits you with a sales pitch every time you walk in the door, for the umpteenth time.  Maybe I'll mention it to tourists, if it is convenient.

But if I don't push it, it will be like any other book.  Which means sales will slow down.

Finally, I won't know how the book is selling at Barnes and Noble, Apple, in foreign countries, etc. etc. for months and months.  They take forever to report, even longer to pay, which then is added to how long my publisher reports, so I'll be lucky, I think to hear anything by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, The Dead Spend No Gold, with it's similar cover, is almost ready to go.  I'll be interested to see if that helps any...