Some quick observations about the world of self e-publishing, now that I’m two weeks into this whirlwind adventure:

1) 45% of sales are from Amazon

2) 40% of sales are from iTunes (my understanding is that this near-even split between Amazon and Apple is atypical; usually the Amazon #’s are significantly higher than the Apple #’s)

3) 10% of sales are from Barnes & Noble

4) 5% of sales are from Smashwords (although, in fairness, Smashwords is #1 so far in terms of free downloads of the sample excerpt)

5) about 15% of my Facebook friends have “liked” the book’s Facebook page so far

6) about 20% of the 500 or so people I sent a broadcast email to have opened and clicked through on that email to check out the book

7) about 5% of my LinkedIn contacts have responded to my announcement of the book there

I have no idea how “typical” any of these numbers are, or what “benchmarks” might be emerging in this new arena.

One non-bullet-pointed anecdotal observation: while it’s been pretty fun logging in every morning to check my sales, I must admit that what’s been even more gratifying are the responses I’ve gotten from readers. I’m not sure how other people do it, but when I write I imagine a sort of “ideal reader,” someone who pays attention, and is passionate, enthusiastic, and honest in his/her appraisal of my work.

Readers like that mean everything to me and I’ve been blessed with many of them so far in these early days of BALLARD motor court.