Monthly Recap: August 2025

My first ever almost 3,000 dollar month (soooo fucking close!), buoyed by my first ever 2,500 dollar event (looking at you Dragon Con).

Dragon Con will be getting it's own series of posts in the next couple of days, so I won't talk about it, except to say I beat last year, and sold just over 2500 dollars in books. Fuck yeah.

Otherwise, one big change is that I am now tracking book sales through my website. I don't really do this, not in a serious way (yet) but occasionally folks message me directly and I sell them a signed copy or two directly. This month I had a couple of large orders come in, to the tune of 180 bucks, so I took the column on my spreadsheet that had been DriveThruRpg monies (which you won't remember I stopped tracking, because it was such a pittance), and it is now my 'website book sales' column.

It was also a nice month for shirts. But to be transparent...it's partly because of me. I ordered three of my own shirts, because they now have a 'tall' size, so I stocked up to have some as undershirts for Dragon Con. Stylish.

Income:

• $0.00 - Assorted

• $58.70 - Amazon Shirts

• $8.00 - TeePublic Shirts/Merch

• $0.00 - Tabletop Games on Itch.io

• $55.21 - Patreon

• $154.11 - Online Book Sales/KENP

• $13.56 - Audiobooks  

• $180.00 - Website Book Sales

• $2544.66 - In Person Book Sales

• $1.50 - Amazon Affiliate Income

Fixed Monthly Expenses:

• PO Box: $14.17

• Domains: $2.77

• Webhosting: $3.99

• Captivate: $17.00

• Bookfunnel: $1.67

Total: $39.59

Monthly total made:

• $2,976.15 ($1482.79 last month)

• Increase of: $1,493.36

Yearly total made:

• $14,325.18

If you would like to leave a comment on this blog, a version of it has been posted on my Patreon and my Subreddit.

The biggest news this month is that I have two really pleasing numbers: my Instagram is at 777 followers (lucky) and my Discord now has 69 members (nice). Otherwise it is business as usual for the most part.

Next month however I will be talking about what I decided to do with my email list. Right as I sat down to write this, I got an email from Mailerlite saying they will now be charging starting at 500 emails, as opposed to 1,000. Since I have 799 (as you can see below) I have to sign up for a paid plan...or move. I really don't want to move. But I am also very cheap. So we'll see how that will play out!

Social media Growth:

• Facebook Page Follows: 1063 (+10)

• Instagram: 777(+17)

• Facebook Fan Group: 338 (+3)

• Youtube: 139 subscribers (+2)

• Email List: 799 subscribers (-1)

• Discord Server: 69 (+4)

• Threads: 247 (+4)

• Bluesky: 198 (+0)

• Patrons: 22 paid/36 free(+0/+0)

• r/Talesbybob: 16 (+2)

• Total: 3606 (+40)

Podcasts:

• Podcast Downloads (Monthly): 44 (-91)

• Podcast Downloads (Lifetime): 3,963

Here's what I am thinking I will do:

• I will complete my typo fixes that came along with my Bible.

• I will finally go wide.

• I need to figure out if I will stick with Mailerlite, now that they just started charging at 500 emails (I have 800ish).

• I need to finish my file organization process.

• Keep working on Blackwater Requiem.

Here is what I planned to get done this month (copy/pasted from last months recap), with its status:

• I will prep for Dragon Con. (I did this!)

• I will complete my typo fixes that came along with my Bible. (Nope. But by god, September will be the month)

• I will, hopefully, finally go wide. Fuck I need more spoons. (Nope. But again, by god, September will be the month)

• I need to do a little work on the Bible. Not to add stuff, but to arrange it just how I want it. (I did this!)

• I need to finish my file organization process. (This will finish at the same time as the go wide process)

• Keep working on Blackwater Requiem. I want to be at 20k total words by Dragon Con. (Didn't get to 20, but got close!)

I got a lot done! Here is a list:

• I did some updates to the website.

• Reordered books to have enough for Dragon Con.

• Made my promo image for Dragon Con.

• Ordered 'promo baggy' stuff.

• Reformatted Capital of Nightmares for Dread.

• I emailed with a reviewer.

• Reorganized my Asana.

• Guested on an episode of Wise_n_Nerdy and Be Awesome Together.

• Guested on a Continual Panel.

• Recorded and uploaded an episode of Southern Fried Fantasy.

• Did my newsletter.

• Mailed off two website book orders.

• Talked prep with Wenonah.

• Tuned the series bible.

• Filed my monthly taxes.

Alright, alright, alright! Another month in the books, so let's get to recapping! I know I am a couple days late, but blame Dragon Con...there was no way in hell I was going to be able to get this out while I was there, and then Tuesday was spent frantically trying to keep my head above water at work. Ooof!