Lulu: Running the Numbers
Jan. 16th, 2010 08:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jeriendhalJust running some raw numbers through my head concerning the sales of The Dragon's Companion and Unexpected Diversions. I've actually made more money off of my books that I realized. It's hard to get proper perspective when your profits amount to five or ten dollars every couple of months, but overall I've done reasonably well despite being a complete amateur at the publishing and writing game.
I'm not terribly surprised that Diversions has sold significantly more units than The Dragon's Companion. Besides my old adage "Elfporn sells", it's got![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
chaypeta's beautiful cover and professional looking layout design, and better typesetting and editing on the interior. If I could afford it, I'd re-edit Companion so it matches Diversions' interior design and reduce it to the same trade paperback size. The downside to this is that it would make Cheeko's original cover design pretty much unusable, and I can't afford to commission a new one at this time.
So overall, selling through Lulu is never going to make me rich, but aschaypeta has noted in her blog, it does give me enough money to set aside for buying the occasional goody for myself.
My sales through Lulu.com
The Dragon's Companion
First Available: May 2007
Print Copies Sold: 4
Downloads Sold: 2
Total Sales: 6
Profit: $30
Unexpected Diversions
First Available: April 2009
Print Copies Sold: 7
Downloads Sold: 6
Total Sales: 13
Profit: $65
Total Overall Sales: 19 Units
Gross Profit: $95
Expenses: $27 (payment for The Dragon's Companion cover and artist's copy)
Actual Profit: $68 [1]
[1] This is politely ignoring other expenses, such as mailing Cheeko and Peta their contributor copies, not to mention buying print copies for myself and various family members.
I'm not terribly surprised that Diversions has sold significantly more units than The Dragon's Companion. Besides my old adage "Elfporn sells", it's got
chaypeta's beautiful cover and professional looking layout design, and better typesetting and editing on the interior. If I could afford it, I'd re-edit Companion so it matches Diversions' interior design and reduce it to the same trade paperback size. The downside to this is that it would make Cheeko's original cover design pretty much unusable, and I can't afford to commission a new one at this time.So overall, selling through Lulu is never going to make me rich, but as
chaypeta has noted in her blog, it does give me enough money to set aside for buying the occasional goody for myself.My sales through Lulu.com
The Dragon's Companion
First Available: May 2007
Print Copies Sold: 4
Downloads Sold: 2
Total Sales: 6
Profit: $30
Unexpected Diversions
First Available: April 2009
Print Copies Sold: 7
Downloads Sold: 6
Total Sales: 13
Profit: $65
Total Overall Sales: 19 Units
Gross Profit: $95
Expenses: $27 (payment for The Dragon's Companion cover and artist's copy)
Actual Profit: $68 [1]
[1] This is politely ignoring other expenses, such as mailing Cheeko and Peta their contributor copies, not to mention buying print copies for myself and various family members.
