Jan 2009 was when I reached the 7,000 mark for number of books sold. True, most people do it by fives, but my goal was to hit a thousand above the norm.

By and large, The Morcyth Saga has dominated over the other series I have published. When The Unsuspecting Mage, the first book of The Morcyth Saga, hit the online booksellers back in December 2005, I thought perhaps I would sell a few, but never did I believe it would begin taking off the way it did in 2008. (Every book sold but for a very few, has been via the online retailers.) If it continues as it has, I'll hit 12,000 by end of 2009. Or more??

What really makes a writer such as myself feel their work is accepted, is when a reader buys book one, then a week later, my sales report shows books 2-7 selling at one time. When 2-7 sell simultaneously, I know I've got another fan.

Way back when I first published the second book of The Morcyth Saga, Fires of Prophecy, I knew that if those that had read the first one didn't buy the second, I was in trouble. Thanks heavens such was not the case! Almost 60 percent bought the second book within a month of its release.

Many of my readers have emailed me over time, and my goal is to return each and every email in a timely manner. The first thing I check when I go online is my in-box. I send no form letter, answer every question given me, unless of course someone is asking about future plot developments, and try to be personable. I think between the respect I show my readers, and a willingness to be approachable, are two of the key ingredients to my success. Since I have no budget for advertisement, and my books aren't sitting on bookstore shelves, I primarily rely on word of mouth. And it's working. Thank you to all that have mentioned my books to another.

I'm always searching for other avenues to reach readers who have never heard of me before. AuthorsDen has been instrumental in that. Also, this year I formatted every title for Mobipocket eBook, and that has seriously boosted the sales count. During the first two months they were at Mobipocket, The Unsuspecting Mage was the number one eBook for fantasy 5 of the eight weeks. That was cool. I also discovered CreateSpace, a self publisher by Amazon.com. Through it, I've been able to publish my books and give my readers a 25% off discount. The biggest selling point for CreateSpace, was how it only cost me $12 a book with no yearly fee. Yep, that's correct.

Thanks again to all my readers for your help in making my books a success. A special nod goes out to my friends in:

Germany
Panama
South Africa
Czechoslovakia
Canada
England
France

I'm sure I've missed a few, and my apologies to those I did.

Feel free to email me if you have questions or comments. Love to hear from you.

Email: Click here

Thank you,

Brian S. Pratt