Exceeding Expectations

“A thing long expected takes the form of the unexpected when at last it comes.” ~ Mark Twain

When I wrote the guest blog post about goal setting for The Book Designer, I set a personal sales goal of at least 10 book purchases for the month of June. I hoped for the best but expected the worst. I never imagined that I would exceed 10 sales since I am a new independent author with a small following of mostly friends and family. It was a reasonable sales goal for me and I figured I would probably get 10 sales in June but nothing more.

On June 20^th, I checked my total sales for the month and found that I had reached my goal of 10 book sales. What the screen actually read was “11 Units Sold” but one of those resulted in a return which left me with “10 Net Units Sold”. On top of the 10 net sales, I had one borrow in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. Great! I thought to myself. I had met my goal and it wasn’t even the end of the month yet. It gets better, though. Once I had met my monthly sales goal, it was all uphill from there. Unless every person who purchased the book returned it before July 1^st, I would only exceed my sales goal. To my delight, I did exceed my sales goal! The final count at the end of June was 15 Units Sold, 14 Net Units Sold, 1 Unit Refunded, and 1 Unit Borrowed. I would say that is an accomplishment!

My hope is to continue to exceed my personal expectations as time goes by. The month of July is going to be a big one because of the “Freebie” event coming up in a few days (July 3-4, 2013). I’ve set several goals for July in terms of sales, free event downloads, and reviews:

• GOAL #1: At least 15 total sales for July.

• GOAL #2: At least 10 downloads during the Fourth of July Freebie event on July 3-4.

• GOAL #3: At least 5 total reviews on Amazon.

These goals may not seem like much to most people but for me these goals reflect where I’m at as an author. Some authors sell hundreds of books each month, some sell thousands. I am looking to sell in the double digits for now and gradually work my way up. If I exceed my expectations, that is just icing on the cake for me!

July has already begun and the Fourth of July Freebie event is just two days away! Help me reach (and maybe exceed) my goals for July by downloading The Last Navigator for FREE on July 3^rd and July 4^th. I’m also offering a perk for those of you who “Refer-A-Friend” to download the book during the two day freebie event. If you and your friend download the book, both get an extended preview of Through Ryan’s Eyes—the companion novel to The Last Navigator. Through Ryan’s Eyes won’t be published until this fall so the extended preview is highly exclusive! To participate in the “Refer-A-Friend” perk, simply fill out the form below with your name, your friend’s name, and both email addresses where you want me to send you your extended preview. The preview will be in Portable Document Format (PDF) for ease of viewing on multiple electronic devices. Don’t miss out on this opportunity! Click the book cover to download your free copy on July 3rd and July 4th (Amazon works on Pacific Standard Time so if you click on the link and it doesn’t show that it is free, I apologize. I will be free for two entire days beginning at midnight Pacific Standard Time on July 3rd and ending at 11:59pm Pacific Standard Time on July 4th).

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Until next time…

J. G. McNease