publishing wrap-up 2022
Hello, hello--it is that time of year, the end of the year, where I take a look at what books of mine did the best, what did the worst, and let me tell you, it is absolutely the worst book-selling year so far. My first year that I had books out, 2020, I made 200$. Last year I made 80$. This year? $63.74.
Thank God for day jobs, right?
But! I don't do this for the money, obviously. I do this because I love it. But let's take a look at this broken down. I have twenty-two books out.
First, let's get the ones that made zero money out of the way. Didn't sell a single copy, no KNP pages read, nothing.
This one is actually shocking, because it has been my most popular book, consistently, since it came out. It was my first book, the first in a five-book series, all of which is out now, following a bunch of kids going to Hell and meeting up with the people who are trying to take over. Urban fantasy/horror/adventure. It's a fun time.
This series has never been popular so I'm not super surprised. The Vendettic books follow an 80s heavy metal band and all of their adventures dealing with demon shit. The first two books in the trilogy are out. Main character? Stupidest motherfucker to ever exist. Love it.
This is my first collection with both short stories and creative nonfiction essays. The people who have read it have enjoyed it. Honestly, I'm not super upset about this one not making money because collections don't take as much work as novels and novellas do. I write stories in an attempt to sell them to lit mags and when they inevitably don't sell and I have enough of them, I throw them together. That being said, everyone who has read this one has enjoyed it.
Book 2 in Vendettic! I will say, looking at it, it looks like the paperback is highly discounted right about now, so it might be the time to purchase. This came out last year. Book three will come out at some point, maybe even in 2023, despite the relative unpopularity of this series.
Beyr is almost a companion novella to the Pentalogy of Hell series, but it can, definitely, be read on its own. It was an experiment. I'm not gonna lie, I do count it as one of my worst books. Not the worst. But one of the worst. That's maybe something I shouldn't say.
Speaking of my worst book! Carl & Jimmy is my worst book. Um. It does have its charms, I think; it's definitely got stuff happening constantly. It's kind of--well, it is--a 70s retelling and reworking about American serial killer Carl Panzram?
Okay, this one is sad because it is the only book on this list of "not making any money" that came out this year. this is the third Aughts Boys book but it does not have to be read in order--honestly, this is the first one chronologically. Follows a kid who becomes friends with a real jerk named Matt and has to struggle with that. My little sister got emotionally connected to Matt and cried, so.
So, now that that's over with, let's get to the books that did make money, in order from the least to the most.
15. Circus Wings (.02)
My foray into fantasy. This is the first in a trilogy, the third book of which I am currently rewriting, so that will be my next book out. I don't quite know about this book. I don't know. We do have an environmentally conscious lesbian princess, so, there's that. I like the characters. This is also almost an experiment--I'm not a huge fantasy guy.
These next couple (that I clearly only sold one kindle book of, lol) are technically tied. I'm a little sad about this being down so low, because I do still consider this my best book. I dunno. Like Hell (which you will see a little farther down) might have beat it out. But I really like this one. It's my WM3 one.
13. The False Prophet (.35)
Book 4 in the Pentalogy of Hell! While I didn't sell any of the first book, I did sell some of the subsequent ones.
12. The Son of Perdition (.35)
And Book 5 in the Pentalogy of Hell! This one's kinda sad seeing as book five did come out this year, but, you know. I'm just banking on one day, maybe, someone just binging them all on KU. That's what you do when you self-publish six books a year. You hope for the binge-readers. Unfortunately, I'm not a romance author, and write in a million different genres, so I'm definitely doing something wrong, but. You know.
11. Lake of Fire (.36)
Book 3 in Pentalogy! And it looks like the hardcover is severely discounted right now, like, 5$, so I'd snap on that right now if I were you.
10. Rewind (.39)
My collection from this year! This one is all short stories. Also, don't get put off by the fact that the title is "Rewind" and the cover shows a record player. It's referencing two different stories. In hindsight it was maybe a poor decision.
9. Forty Days (1.45)
Book 2 in Pentalogy! Hardcover here is also really discounted, so. You know. If you wanna purchase. Feel free.
8. The Morph Suit Murderer (2.16)
Sequel to Serial Killers With Cookies. The official series title for this is "abnormal murders" but in my heart and also in my hard drive I call them "stupid-ass murders" because honestly. Also the main character is straight-up nuts by this book which is super fun.
7. One More Sad Song (2.18)
I'm gonna say that out of all of my series, I am most attached to the Aughts Boys books. Maybe this is because I'm still writing books onto it. Like, first-draft-wise. The 'verse keeps growing. But this is the first book based on publication order. Like I said--don't gotta read these in order. The only one that you should probably make sure to read this one before would be the most recent book in the series.
6. Columbiner (2.86)
Yeah, so, I'm gonna say consistently? This is my most popular book. Like, there's not weird rushes to buy this one, it just so happens that I sell a Kindle copy like, once every couple of months and it's been that way since I published it in 2020. People love school shooting books, I guess.
5. Serial Killers with Cookies (3.23)
Yeah, so, Amazon's all jacked up mixing up SKWC and the Vendettic books. There's nothing I can really do on my end; I've double-checked the series settings. But trust that this is the first book in the Abnormal Murders books, before the main character goes nuts. I mean, she gets there by the end. God I love Justine.
4. The Horror at Camp New Woods (4.54)
Hey, paperback is currently discounted for this one! Buy now! But this is the second book in the Aughts Boys series, and it is one of the weird, uh... left turns into straight-up horror that happens a couple of times in this series. I mean, this is the only time so far in the published ones, but like, it's gonna happen at least three more times? Look forward if you don't care about 2004 and only care about murder? I guess?
3. Like Hell (9.41)
Paperback is also currently discounted on this one. But this is the one that I might be like, okay, this might actually be my best book. It's like Beyr but good. This was my first book published in 2022 and honestly? I do think it is a good one. Short and quick, too.
2. Royal Blood (11.99)
Sequel to Circus Wings. New POV characters. Can I say I like this one less than Circus Wings? I do. But that is definitely a YMMV thing; that one was more action-focused, this one has more political stuff going on. Book 3 we will get a mix because I threw all the POV characters that were still alive into a blender.
1. Hit or Miss (19.10)
The latest! Book four in the Aughts Boys books; maybe read book one before this one but otherwise you are good. Maybe book three if you want to understand Matt a little more. Maybe book two if you just wanna deal in a little murder. Uh, I got a new cover artist for this one because my original one ghosted me, but I asked her to kinda try to at least match the original covers and I think she did a great job. Also, this book is, I hate to brag, the number one new release in children's hockey books. It beat out a whole grand total of zero other books, but I do have the little orange banner on the Kindle page, which is hilarious. It's not a children's book. It's YA. Amazon counts them together.
But that's that! That's what my sales looked like this year! Absolutely nothing! But no, it's fine. Obviously I would love to sell more books. Obviously I would love it if you would purchase one or two or twenty-two books right now, or start flipping through them in KU, or whatever. Obviously I want to make money doing this. But it is more important for me to have them available. But if any of these look interesting, please, please, please give them a look. All of my kindle editions are only .99, and like I said--a lot of these are discounted physically right now.
Let's see what next year brings! How many books will Aurora write/publish this year... it bodes not well that the first book is the last Tinon book because those take me forever...
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