A self-published author's diary: The Ups and Downs of Self-Publishing (and everything in-between)

Numbers: The Book That Had 23 Preorders and...became my most read book.

May 7
43 mins

Episode Description

This is a numbers episode. I'm going back to the archives a little bit (back to the future, kind of) to talk about a book I released in 2015 that had 23 preorders and became one of my most read books.

A Summer Like No Other launched at 99 cents. I had a whole plan — cover reveal with Xpresso Book Tours, NetGalley, YouTube videos, a blog series called The Making Of, emails to readers who had reviewed my first book. I got 23 preorders. In the first three months I made about $200.

That same book has now been downloaded 66,550 times in English: 40,279 audiobooks, 24,414 ebooks, and 1,360 paperbacks. Best month was May 2024, with 7,930 downloads.

The French version, Un Été Pas Comme Les Autres, had 20 preorders. It's now perma free, has been downloaded 48,368 times, has 1,843 ratings on Amazon France, and the translation got picked up by a publisher that was part of Hachette — which is how I became a hybrid author.

So preorders really don't make or break a book.

I also talk about:

  • Dictation finally working for me — two days this week with more than 6,000 words, which hasn't happened in forever
  • A very funny dictation fail from my walk
  • Last week's newsletter (Elodie Now): 205 subscribers, 48.19% open rate, 0.49% click rate, one unsubscribe
  • Fun fact: more than 50 subscribers across Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and I didn't know that until this week. Thank you

The two YouTube videos that helped me with dictation:

The Margie Lawson Deep Edits packets:

PublisherChamp:

If you'd like to tell me you're listening and where from, I would love to hear from you: authorelodienowodazkij AT gmail.com

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