As a self-published author, I am solely responsible for everything to do with my books. From the writing (probably the easiest part), to the e-book formatting, to the cover layout, to the paperback formatting, to the pricing, to the marketing, to the reporting. And while it would be nice to sit in a cutesy ivory tower and bang away at a keyboard, churning out novel after novel, the reality is that real life always gets the better of one, or more, of those responsibilities.

This post is about the final one, reporting. I do check my Amazon, Barnes & Noble, et al, reporting on a fairly regular basis. Not hourly, like I did way back when, clicking refresh and hoping the number ticked up by one. I gave that up not because the numbers rose too quickly to keep up with (Ha! If only…), but because it did nothing to get my any further in any of the other responsibilities. That being said, I do have to keep on top of my sales/trends so that I know what is selling, where, what is not, why, and so on.

Amazon is my number one outlet, still well in excess of 50% of total sales, followed by Barnes & Noble, then Kobo (though Kobo is nipping at BN’s heels; perhaps another post for another day of Kobo’s nice push), then iBooks, then scattered others. So I normally watch my Amz/BN numbers much more closely than the others, meaning I missed something last week very cool on my iBookstore reporting:

Somehow, some way, some guy/gal in Finland bought Gabriel’s Redemption, then must have enjoyed it so much he/she (a) bought Gabriel’s Return and Gabriel’s Revenge as well, AND (b) told a bunch of Finnish friends. How do I know this? Because after a year and a half of US/Canada (mostly) sales through iTunes, last week I had a Finland sales spike – nine copies of GR1, plus the single copy of both GR2 and GR3. NINE. Out of the blue. Go figure.

So as a thanks to my now-massive Finland market, I give you:

*Disclaimer: The book wasn’t translated to Finnish, sorry. I just plugged in the title to an online translator and redid the cover. Yes, I was bored this morning.

Now, on to other Scandinavian market domination…