Monthly Recap: June 2026

TRANSPARENCYMONTHLY RECAP

7/1/20265 min read

This may be the last month I break down the sales numbers into specific categories on this blog. Instead I will still talk about the numbers, but I will just be dropping total income/expenses for the overall categories, rather than being as granular as I have been. 

All that said, look at that Online Book Sales number! That's the highest it's been since August of 2023 when book 6 in the Jubal County Saga came out. Which, fuck me has it been that long? 

Now, let me be clear. That number ticked up so dramatically because I ran a Facebook Ad pointing people to my books on Amazon. And spoiler, Facebook Ads aren't free. I spent 291.18 to make 674.35. Which ain't nothing, but a price I am happy to pay. Why? Because once I set it up, it literally takes me no time. 

If nothing with this ad changed, it will make me about 4,500 bucks over the course of a year. That dog will hunt, especially as I slowly start to ramp it up, which will hopefully increase that amount. 

But yeah, as I said earlier, I spent a lot of money this month. My two big expenses were a new computer (a honking big fancy desktop computer to replace my roughly six year old business laptop), and a big reorder of physical books. Beyond that I also spent a lot on new stickers, new business cards, and some new banners. It was also time for me to renew my VectorStock subscription, which is almost 200 bucks by itself. 

Last thing I will mention is that Amazon changed how their POD shirts pay out. If you don't hit certain metrics, then you get paid at a much lower rate. I of course have NOT hit said metrics, so I am making about half what I was making per shirt. Fuckin' Amazon. It's free money at this point mostly, but still, it's annoying. 

So yeah, I spent a lot of money, but I'm still comfortably in the black for the year.

Income (Book Sales):

Total: $777.24

Income (Other):

Total: $90.17

Expenses:

  • Captivate annual membership - $204.00

  • Robin Reads $65.00

  • Fussy Librarian $55.00

  • Book Barbarian $60.00

  • Written Word Media $170.00

  • Ebooknews $45.00

  • Schedhie $9.25

  • Bookbub $260.00

  • Book Order $1,351.23

  • Taxes $222.68

  • Taxes $149.10

  • Business Cards $154.64

  • Stickers $175.73

  • Banners $62.07

  • Facebook Ads $291.18

  • Vectorstock $194.27

Total: $3,364.57

Monthly total made:

  • Income: $867.41 ($4,543.08 last month)

  • Expenses: $3364.57 ($-19.16 last month)

  • Net Income: $-2,497.16

Yearly Gross Total Made:

  • $11,617.70

Yearly Net Total Made:

  • $3,005.47

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

Ok, so not a dramatic month here, but what makes me happy is my Patreon. Adding two paid members this month is rad! Beyond that it was a pretty standard month. Nothing major really, just business as usual. 

One thing I have to improve is my presnce on my Discord. I deleted Discord off my phone, but that was a bridge too far. So I have reinstalled it, just turned off notifications. So I am anticipating getting back in there and being active probably tomorrow. 

Anyway, here are the numbers:

Social Media Growth:
Podcasts:

  • Podcast Downloads (Monthly): 288 (+79)

  • Podcast Downloads (Since April 2022): 6,849

Here's what I am thinking I will do:

  • I will write at least 10,000 words on Jubal County 7.

  • I will start increasing my spend on my Facebook ad.

  • I will do my first major newsletter campaign push.

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

  • I will write at least 10,000 words on Jubal County 7. (Yep!)

  • I will start my first Facebook Ad campaign. (Yep!)

I got a lot done:

  • Started my Facebook ad campaign

  • Drafted a potential contract to be reviewed.

  • Worked on setting up a new store using Payhip.

  • Rewrote all my bios to be more author focused.

  • Did a huge book order.

  • Did a smaller book order to get some books on consignment. 

  • Did an interview with Tyra Burton for one of her classes.

  • Did a paid critique.

  • Worked on sticker images, and new business card layouts.

  • Ordered new stickers and business cards.

  • Made banner images, then ordered new banners.

  • Announced my #jubalcountyworldtour challenge.

  • Totally plotted out, in detail, Marsh 7.2, 8.1 and 8.2.

  • Mapped out Howard Marsh's criminal history.

  • Published Audiobook 4.

  • Made an ad for said audiobook, and posted all about it everywhere.

  • Did inventory.

  • Set up a big newsletter push across six different newsletter services.

  • Worked on background worldbuilding documents for Jubal County.

Alright, alright, alright!

Ok so this was a rare month where I had zero in person events. That was intentional, since I knew I had a big overseas trip to Saint Lucia for my brother's wedding. I didn't want to risk anything messing with that, plus I knew that trip would take a lot out of me (in a good way). As the best man, I had to be totally present, thus no events.

That said, I have like 'having a month off.' I take December off each year, and it's a good time to reset, top off my book orders, handle inventory, etc. Having one at the midpoint of the year has also proven nice. So I might look at repeating this next year. Save June each year for a family trip. I like that.

Anywho, that's not what you are here for. 

So the big thing was I started running my first paid ad on Facebook. I will do a more in depth blog post about it, but suffice it to say, it was a success. So much so that I am going to keep it running, and gradually ramp up my spend on it. 

Otherwise I wrapped up the first half of Jubal County number 7, and am over 5k words in to the second half. It feels good, the words are really rolling. Even taking off from writing the duration of the wedding trip I still did over 20k words for the month, the most I've done since January.

Last thing I'll mention here, is this being a reset month, I ended up spending a LOT of money. And not making all that much. So the big step forward I took last month will be to a large degree undone by this month. But you'll see that down below. 

All in all, it was a very unprofitable month, and I am exceptionally happy with it. Go figure. 

Quick summary:

  • Word Count: 21,367

  • Hours Writing: 18.5

  • Hours Working: 22

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