Indie Authors: Lagging Sales?
You love writing books. You can not see yourself NOT doing it. You may even be pretty good at it. Yet, you don't see the sales you think your work deserves. Why not?
After much contemplation, I think I may be able to explain the situation, and how you can gain some satisfaction, and replace your frustration with some enjoyment.
Supply and Demand: There seriously are a lot of folks out there writing books. Many Indie Authors are cranking out pure crap. Slap a cool cover on it and some will buy it. It seems totally unfair if you have done everything the right way and are being ignored. But the bottom line is there are so many books out there that it is crazy tough to compete.
Friends and Family: You may be quite unpleasantly surprised to find your friends and family are lukewarm about your writing. They don't give you verbal feedback or post a review. The truth is, a lot of them do not want you to be successful. They may be harboring some jealousy. But the more likely situation is that they are afraid to come right out and say they like your work that you so bravely put yourself into, because they are afraid that someone will judge them for liking it. Honestly, some of the mainstream authors are not so great either, but people buy them because they are "recommended".
If you insist upon punishing yourself by continuing to write books that barely sell, you should note a few things:
Don't get sucked in by promotional scams. They will cost you more money and you will become even more frustrated in the likely event that sales remains flat.
Think about why you got into writing in the first place. You really wanted someone to listen to you. You wanted to be able to hold your book in your hands. You probably have accomplished those already.
I think the next phase in the print-on-demand Indie book movement will be the local indie book fair. Don't you think it would be cool once or twice a year to set up tables in a big room with a bunch of other indie authors? You could swap books with other authors to read and sell. You could travel to other localities who were hosting a similar event. I think that would be fantastic.
After much contemplation, I think I may be able to explain the situation, and how you can gain some satisfaction, and replace your frustration with some enjoyment.
Supply and Demand: There seriously are a lot of folks out there writing books. Many Indie Authors are cranking out pure crap. Slap a cool cover on it and some will buy it. It seems totally unfair if you have done everything the right way and are being ignored. But the bottom line is there are so many books out there that it is crazy tough to compete.
Friends and Family: You may be quite unpleasantly surprised to find your friends and family are lukewarm about your writing. They don't give you verbal feedback or post a review. The truth is, a lot of them do not want you to be successful. They may be harboring some jealousy. But the more likely situation is that they are afraid to come right out and say they like your work that you so bravely put yourself into, because they are afraid that someone will judge them for liking it. Honestly, some of the mainstream authors are not so great either, but people buy them because they are "recommended".
If you insist upon punishing yourself by continuing to write books that barely sell, you should note a few things:
Don't get sucked in by promotional scams. They will cost you more money and you will become even more frustrated in the likely event that sales remains flat.
Think about why you got into writing in the first place. You really wanted someone to listen to you. You wanted to be able to hold your book in your hands. You probably have accomplished those already.
I think the next phase in the print-on-demand Indie book movement will be the local indie book fair. Don't you think it would be cool once or twice a year to set up tables in a big room with a bunch of other indie authors? You could swap books with other authors to read and sell. You could travel to other localities who were hosting a similar event. I think that would be fantastic.
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