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We want to thank all of you who have bought the book, recommended it to others and left reviews on Amazon, iTunes, Smashwords and Barnes & Noble.com. The feedback has been tremendous and it makes the time, effort and thought that went into the publication worth it.
So here are a few quick updates on the book...for those of you who are interested and for those of you who haven't yet had a chance to read it.
Reviews
Review stats from our major suppliers:
Amazon - 4.8/5.0 stars (16 5 star, 5 4 stars)
Apple - 4.8/5.0 stars (7 5 stars, 2 4 stars)
Smashwords - 5.0 (3 5 stars)
Barnes&Noble - 5.0 (1 5 star)
In all, 34 reviews (none written by us or our Moms) with an average rating of 4.8 stars out of 5.0. If that was a recruiting class average, we'd all be pretty psyched. We've also gotten a bunch of nice e-mails, twitter mentions and plenty of good feedback here. Our takeaway is that the people who bought the book are happy with the product. So if you have your toe dipped in the water with respect to buying it, dive in. The water is fine. We're pretty confident you'll get your $10 worth.
Sales
I can't go into specific numbers as our monies are being funneled through the Caymans and will eventually become Bitcoins tied to cart racing futures, but we're 20% ahead of where we were last year. Projecting that exact rate of growth forward through the year 2040 will mean that we've sold as many copies as that utter piece of shit The Da Vinci Code. In terms of moving product, Amazon is the clear #1 outpacing our other three major retailers combined. Apple and Smashwords are neck-and-neck for #2 and the B&N brand carcass trails substantially.
Smashwords pay us the best royalties by far, Apple next, Amazon third.
Technical Issues
None. We had a couple of questions, we responded, problems solved. The feedback on compatibility with various e-readers, smart phones or even just a computer download and reading it like a blog has been very encouraging. We've received proud e-mails from a number of Luddites marveling at how easy it all was - their yearning for a paper version abated.
Several readers have remarked that a Smashwords file looked as good or better on their Kindle or iPad than their compatible books.
We spend a decent amount of money on picture rights and Amazon charges a hefty fee for the increased file size created by those pics and our graphics (they take a bigger piece of our royalties for "the cost" of storing a bigger file for us), so let us know if that's worth continuing. I like the pics and graphics and think they're worth keeping.
Word of mouth
We don't want anyone to shill for us, but I've had a number of conversations with people who rave about the book and when I respond with a hearty thanks and "tell a friend", the thought either didn't occur to them or they get shy about declaring their preferences to their friends who share the same passion. It's a funny psychological barrier. I don't quite get it, as I'm an avid recommender of things I know my friends will enjoy.
This blog has a ton of readers, but that number represents only a fraction of Longhorn fans. And only a small fraction of our readers are buyers. You also may have noticed that the internet tends to compartmentalize - "Oh, that's a Barking Carnival preview" - no, it's a Texas Longhorn and Big 12 football preview. It's site agnostic. Help us break those silos up. Word of mouth is still the most crucial component to product uptake.
Kickoff Is One Week Out
Let's be honest: our book has the functional lifespan of a sturdy mayfly. We dominate the Football Rankings on Amazon and iTunes for a month and then you can't find us with a telescope.
Time for the final push. Thanks to all for helping, reading and reviewing.
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