I’ve been blah-blahing about the importance of readthrough for many months now – keep on editing Wren to try and get more people to enjoy book 1 enough to read book 2 and onward.
Well, maybe I have hit it. I’m wary to draw broader conclusions, but figures this month so far suggest the last edits to Saint Justice have doubled readthrough from 25% to 50%.
Strong news, if it holds true. This month I’ve sold:
- Wren 1 – 119 copies
- Wren 2 – 62, which is 52%
- Wren 3 – 49, which is 41% from book 1, and 79% from book 2
- Wren 4 – 39, which is 32% from book 1, and 79% from book 3
- Wren 5 – 38, which is 31% from book 1, and 98% from book 4.
That 52% is excellent. It does drop off quite sharply, but each time I’m keeping at least four fifths of the readers. I just re-edited book 3, I’ll do book 2 more thoroughly at some point, and hopefully get those numbers up too.
From any angle, it’s excellent. Approximate readthrough value is about $6 – so when I sell 1 copy of book 1, I can expect $6 total income. Average cost of sales are coming in below that at the moment. Plus of course there’s KU reads.
KU readthrough is actually lower than sales right now, which is unusual – it’s usually higher. I’m thinking it might take time for the changes to register with new readers to the series.
Some of this is also due to strong conversion on my new FB ads, coupled with new Amazon blurb. It’s back to the Jack Reacher format, with a crime everyone can comprehend and have an opinion on:
They stole his truck. Big mistake.
CIA black-ops legend Christopher Wren pulls over on a Utah highway after three weeks on the road. An arbitrary decision he’s about to regret.
A biker gang attacks Wren, leaves him for dead and steals his truck. Now he’s going to get it back.
From a secret warehouse in the desert. Ringed with fences. Filled with human cages. As the body count mounts and a shocking national conspiracy unravels, one thing is for certain.
Justice will be done.
It’s working well right now. I’m spending conservatively on ads.
What else?
I’ve gone back to working on book 6 – now I’m blending the side-story into Wren’s view, and that took a little while. It’s at 11,000 words, and I’m ready to move forward. The foundation looks solid.
By this time next week, it’d be great to have 20,000 words. Ramp things up.
New Firestorm cover
Also, not to bury the lede, I got my new cover for Wren book 5, Firestorm, today. I love these. It strongly reflects the Capitol riot, but I wrote this scene before the riot happened, so who’s reflecting who?
I love it. Can’t wait to get book 6 more developed so I can get the next cover done.