Best Selling Author - say what?!

I went to a trivia contest last night with some of my writing friends - and new friends! Fun fun! I think I answered one question correct, and even that was a guess. I might not be good at trivia, but hey, I sit at the right table so hah! I think we came in second. Pretty sure we did. Okay maybe tied with three other tables but still second. The point - it was fun.

But some of the questions really got me thinking about what a best-selling author was. And how to be a best selling author. So I googled. Spent too much time googling instead of working on Survival Zone, but I still might get there.

What did I learn today - The odds of winning the lottery, in Canada, that's 6-49, are 1 in 14 million. Whoa. Not bad, right? Yeah. No, I'm not rushing out to get a ticket. Lotto Max, the odds are 1 in over 28 million. You've got a better chance at getting hit by lightning, by far, because those odds are one in less than a million. I do not like those odds.  In the US, your odds of winning the power ball are 1 in almost 300 million!

There's the odds. Now, let's talk about being a best selling author. Sell 5000 books a week - that show up in Bookscan. So technically, you could be selling more copies than the bestseller, but still not be counted as a best seller. But this number is just a number, and in a slow week of sales, it could be a lot less than 5000, on a busy week, it may be much higher. We're talking odds again.

To be in the top 5 for Amazon, you need to sell maybe 300 books a week. There's a big difference from 5000 a week down to 300 a week. But the odds of this happening, after writing the best book I can, hiring editors, etc., to make it even better, marketing in all the right spots - yeah, I think I'll take my chances here. I like my odds better for being a best-selling author much better than winning the lottery - or getting hit by lightning. And now, back to work on writing to better improve my odds! Have a great day and Happy Valentine's day!

And if you've got any better tips for making the odds better - I'm all ears!  

Contests! Win win win!

I've been trying to finish the Blurs series - and have a name for the final one! INCUBATION.

Yup. Incubation.

It fits. Not saying why yet, but it fits.

I'm still editing Zapped - actually, no, that's not true. But I will, when I've finished Incubation, get back to it. I don't have a cover for it either. Working on it.

In the meantime, Kobo and Aquafadas ran a contest and I was one of the winners! It's for an interactive book for Ipads, etc. And that is with my illustrator right now. Can't wait to see it!

And #PitMad on Twitter. I'm not much of a tweeter, but I did it. I tweeted.  And got one favorite! Yay! Had to send part of Unbelievers to a potential agent. Soooooooooo excited!

If I'm spending too much time entering contests will I ever finish what I've started? Yup! And more exciting news - C IS FOR CALASTROPHE IS ALMOST FINISHED! Just saw the pictures for the first time! Love them!

And now, in the middle of the blizzard - yes blizzard again, that is my news. Great to have time at home to write, right? But its hard to focus when you're kind of stuck. And can't get out. Oh well. I can dream of Florida.

Here's one picture out of the C book!

Did I tell you I loved it?!