Random updates
The sale that started back in September went very well indeed.  The $.99 price brought in a lot of new readers.
At the moment, that price is still in place (due entirely to inertia on my part) and I’ll probably go back to regular pricing sometime next week. Just so’s you know. In case, y’know, you wanted to use that information…
Some actual numbers: On the first day of the sale, September 13, my Kindle report shows 1,895 ebooks sold, of which 1,682 were Book 1, The Steerswoman. That first day was the best, and worth the cost of advertising all by itself.  Prior to that we were hovering around 5 to 10 books a day; and after that one big day, things started trending downward for the rest of the month. The average for those days following the peak day came to around 94 books a day, and we ended on 33 books the last day.
In October, the average stayed around 30 a day, which previously I would have considered amazingly good! And this month (November) we’re back to 10 to 15 a day.
So: well worth the price of advertising through BookBub. Got my money back, and more.
It was fun watching this in real time.
And I must say, I love it that Kindle gives me close to real-time sales.  When these books were first published by a traditional publisher (Del Rey/Ballantine), reports on sales would only be available to me once every six months, and even so would only refer to the sales from about a year before. So there was no way to tell if any thing I did — like, write a great blog post, do a book-signing event, attend a convention, win the Nobel Peace Prize (hint: I have done some, but not all, of these things) —  had any effect on sales whatsoever. No feedback, no control.  Until it was Too Late to Do Anything Useful.
And even when things were going well, you couldn’t be encouraged by it, because you were still in the dark!
Ah, the bad old days. The Internet changes everything.
Other updates: I continue to plan my escape from the Day Job from the Black Lagoon, but am still on pause mode, while I undertake some routine medical tests (from which I expect nothing but good news, I assure you). I need to evaluate their effect on my Escape Fund before I make any startling moves.
(And thank you, Day Job, for switching from Super-excellent-low-cost-health-insurance-that-saw-me-through-all-my-cancer-treatments, to Twice-the-price-plus-high-deductible-might-as-well-go-on-Obamacare-because-what’s-the-difference? You have cleverly removed my main reason for remaining here, greatly simplifying my choices! How kind of you.)
Those of you who continue to ask about helping with the Escape Fund: you are wonderful human beings.  When I decide which way to go — with crowdfunding, or Patreon, or Kickstarter — I’ll make it known to all. Right now, just knowing you’re in my corner is greatly encouraging.
