I’m making the month of August an experiment with promotions.
Actually, what I’m going to do is take the month of August off from book promotions. And I’m talking about my promotions, not yours or anyone else’s.
I’m curious to see if it makes any difference in book sales. So, here we go.
THE RESULTS: I sold 5 e-books the month of August, and 14 paperbacks, for a total of 19 books. No promotion whatsoever.
I’m a bit surprised. Part of the sales came from the hand-selling we did at the Methodist Church crafts and clutter event. We can always sell books face-to-face with customers.
I do believe, however, that my Amazon e-book sales were affected, and also those from Apple. It definitely affected ACX audio-book sales.
So, what did I learn. That a little promotion is necessary. Especially that directed at Apple, Kindle, and ACX. I also learned that I missed gabbing about my books and what I’m writing now.
Here are the actual figures:
August 1: No sales (But that is typical for the beginning of the month anyhow.) August 2: No sales (Ditto). August 3: No sales. (Again, par for the course). August 4: No sales. Not surprised. August 5: I sold one copy of The Goodall Manifest to a Nook customer. (Great news. The exact book I want to sell right now, to the exact venue I’d like it sold in!) 
August 6: No sales. (Always expect more sales to follow sales, but alas, it was not to be.) August 7: No e-book sales, but 2 paperback sales of The Goodall Manifest now showing up for month of August. (Love you, whoever you are.) August 8: No sales. August 9: Surprise! Sold 1 e-book copy of The Goodall Mutiny on Kindle. August 10: No sales. August 11: No sales. August 12: No sales. August 13: Spent four hours today selling my books at a local church craft and clutter event. Sold 4 copies of The Goodall Mutiny, 1 copy of The Goodall Manifest, and 1 copy of Talking to the Dead Guys. 
August 14: No e-book sales, but it looks like BookPeople sold 1 copy of The Goodall Mutiny. I’ve got my happy face on! It is so hard to sell at BookPeople. Bless you, anonymous reader! August 15: No sales. August 16: No sales. August 17: No sales. August 18: No e-book sales, but up to now (during August) have sold 1 copy of The Goodall Manifest, 1 copy of Twisted Rixter, and 1 copy of Tea With A Dead Gal at Buffalo Clover in Lockhart. Really good news. 
August 19: No sales. August 20: No sales. August 21: A couple of surprises. E-book sales to Canada (haven’t sold anything in Canada in since forever). 1 The Goodall Mutiny and 1 The Goodall Manifest. Plus 2 books sold today at Bookpeople in Austin, Texas. 1 The Goodall Mutiny and 1 The Goodall Manifest.
August 22: No sales. August 23: No sales. August 24: No sales. August 25: No sales. August 26: No sales. August 27: No sales August 28: Sold one copy The Goodall Mutiny through Nook. August 29: No sales. August 30: No sales. August 31: No sales. THE END.
WHAT I READ THIS MONTH: Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Murder As A Fine Art by David Morrell. Paloma by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Landing Party: A Dinosaur Thriller by Rick Chesler. Personal by Lee Child. Recovery Man by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Honor’s Flight by Lindsay Buroker. Her Fateful Debut by G.G. Vandagriff. Starseers by Lindsay Buroker.
http://barnesandnoble.com/c/gretchen-rix
That was an interesting experiment. Congrats on sales. That sounds pretty good to me! I haven’t done any face to face sales since San Diego and there I sold 11. Plus the 30 I sold in July at the signing!
For August I had on-line sales ONLY of: 6 paperbacks (one in the UK), and 8 ebooks between my two titles. Though most were The Girl in the Jitterbug Dress!
Seems like we’re on the right path. Congrats on your sales with no promo. I think that’s pretty awesome!
Thank you, Tam. I also think we’re doing pretty well, given the competition.