Independence Day - eBook Experiment Update

It seems like a good day to report on my experiment in Indie Publishing. (For new readers, I started out a few months ago experimenting with my oddball off-genre stories. And just two weeks or so ago, I decided that it was time to all in or all out. I went for "All In." Read my post about the decision here and here.)

I only just published Have Gun, Will Play - my first more commercial mystery book - so I don't know the results of that yet. But it got reviews faster than my other books. And my other books are doing pretty well for such hard-to-define books:

I've sold 102 copies of my various books on Smashwords (though most of those were from free promotions - that's not all this month). Amazon changed the way they report their sales, the reports have been miscounting, but by handcount, I sold 27 books last month, and gained about six reveiws, (scattered about Goodreads, Amazon, Smashwords and misc blogs).

I have still not done much on marketing. I post a little on various forums. Send a note to a reviewer here and there. At the moment my main marketing plan is WRITE MORE STUFF. I've had requests for sequels from readers of all three books. And it's much easier to market a series - something that people can sink their teeth into - than it is a scattering of stand-alone books.

So while I work to get those sequels out (and the WIP as well) I will probably publish an inexpensive collection of my published mystery short fiction. I have a couple of Mick and Casey stories among them.

Now I will leave you with some independence day videos:

YouTube has removed most of the better clips from Yankee Doodle Dandy but here is a clip of Cagney in the finale of the Yankee Doodle Boy number from That's Entertainment. (Man can that tough guy dance.) Unfortunately, this clip cannot be embedded.

And here is the opening number from 1776. I have often wished to have William Daniels/John Adams as my muse - pacing impatiently behind me saying "Get on with it woman! We haven't got all day!" Of course, most of the great lines from this movie are actual quotes from John Adams and others. (Like the opening speech - "I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is called a disgrace, two are called a lawfirm, and three or more become a congress!")