The way that Lulu.com and Kindle Direct Publishing report the sales of my books to me is in two rather different formats and collating the information can be a bit time-consuming ... which is why I only look at my latest sales figures every two or three months.
As of today, my sales figures look like this:
I have sorted them figures out so they represent my output in terms of those book that fall under the PORTABLE WARGAME label (7405), other wargames rules (1122), imagi-nation campaign books (324), Masonic books (137), and my one novel (23) ... about which, the least said, the better!
One book that is not included on the list is my CENTENARY HISTORY OF THE HERTFORDSHIRE MASTER'S LODGE NO.4090. This should have been published in 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic its publication has been held back until early in 2022. I know that over 500 have been printed, and they are sitting in storage awaiting the delayed centenary meeting of the Lodge.
Impressive sales totals. well done!
ReplyDeleteTrebian,
DeleteCheers! They are much better than I every expected!
All the best,
Bob
Hi BOB,
ReplyDeleteThese are great sales figures for your various Books- you must be very pleased with these results. Stay safe and well. Cheers. KEV.
Kev Robertson (Kev),
DeleteCheers! Hopefully I’ll break the 10,000 barrier by early in 2022!
I never expected to sell more than a dozen or so copies of my original PW book … but it has proven to be much more popular than I expected.
All the best,
Bob
Hi Bob -
ReplyDeleteSales for the PW books seems to be pretty steady - very encouraging.
I was wondering about 'The Elephant and the Cobra' novel, and whether its premise might have run up against the movie 'London has Fallen'. This movie was shown on local TV some weeks ago, and although the premise was sort of OK (with a hefty dollop of implausibility), the thing descended into jingoistic vindictiveness that - for all that I like action movies by and large - I found it unwatchable from about half-way through.
It would be awfully bad luck if your book were, unseen, to be judged by its similarity of topic or theme to an earlier movie that descended to quickly into gratuitous jingoism.
Cheers,
Ion
Archduke Piccolo (Ion),
DeleteSlow but steady ... I'd rather have sales figures that trended like that than to have lots of sales in the first month and very few after that.
My only novel was written after I had done a lot of research for a possible wargame about a terrorist dirty-bomb attack on London. Unfortunately, I could not find anyone who might be interested in it, and the data went into 'storage' until my last cruise to North America.
For some reason, every night during the cruise I dreamt about what I had learned doing my research, and my dreams became a sort of ongoing film in my head. I got into the habit of typing up each 'episode', and by the end of the cruise I had the bare bones of the story.
I left it for a few months, and when I returned to it, I was able to expand on what I had already written, and the novel was the result. I asked several people who know about these matters to read what I had written, and none of them gave me negative feedback or told me that I had made any glaring mistakes.
I have never seen 'London has fallen', although I did see about half an hour of 'Olympus has fallen' ... which seemed to be nonstop but often implausible action. I suppose that my story falls into the same genre, except that as much of the detail in it is plausible and as true as I can make it.
All the best,
Bob
Bob -
DeleteI had an idea that yours was more a cautionary tale. Actually, as a 'war game' I wondered whether the main thrust would be in the area of civil defence, coordinating its several elements. The perpetrators of the bomb attack might be part of the 'game' - or remain 'hidden characters, their identity unknown,
I'm thinking in terms of a cooperative sort of game, in which the players take on one aspect of civil defence, with the game moderator throwing in all sorts of consequences: the bomb-threat, detonation, further threats and detonations; traffic problems, panic, how to deal with casualties. Even questions of 'How to you tell the difference between a looter and some shop proprietor trying to protect his stock?'
I can see this as being a pretty complex and challenging sort of exercise. (I'm wondering if 'Evil Uncle' Brian of 'A Fistful of Plastic' might be interested...).
If you haven't seen 'London has Fallen', you haven't missed much, and no doubt could find better uses for that 99 minutes...
Cheers,
Ion
Archduke Piccolo (Ion),
DeleteThe research began with the question 'How would I mount a dirty bomb attack on London?' and quickly led to me realising that the Blue Team response (i.e., the police, security services, local government etc.) was mainly a reactive one, and that planning was aimed at dealing with conceivable threats (i.e., based on experience rather than predictive 'what if ...? thinking) rather than inconceivable ones. My 'game' was intended to try to get a more proactive response ... but I quickly realised that it was not going to be taken onboard by the sort of people who might benefit from playing it. At that point I decided to put it to one side, only for it to re-emerge as a novel.
We have lots of experience of dealing with bits of the threat, but not a more general plan where every aspect of the response ties in together. That was all lost when the old Civil Defence organisation was dismantled towards the end of the Cold War, when people heaved a sigh of collective relief, believing that threats to our way of life were behind us. What happened - of course - was that a new 'enemy' arose, but it was one that was far more difficult to identify and much more unpredictable.
I did take a quick peek at 'London has Fallen' via a streaming service, but gave up after only a few minutes. I don't think that I will bother to watch it to the end.
All the best,
Bob
Congratulations Bob! An impressive achievement.
ReplyDeleteMark, Man of TIN,
DeleteMany thanks for your kind words. I have done far better than I ever expected to ... and I think that I still have a few more books in me!
All the best,
Bob