Book sales! This concept eludes me in my
quest to drive sales. I market and blog as best I can with the aid of others.
And yet, I find it reaching no goal. What am I to do?
I read on Facebook sympathy posts to beg
for sales for help. This makes me frown. Should I do this? NO!
Though ATM I am in a bit of a bind. My
partner recently had a motor bike accident and it has left him unable to work
for the past 2 weeks and another 3 to 4 weeks to come. No work, no pay. So I
decided to put my books on sale for 99¢ to try and help boost sales and make
some money to feed my family as I am now the soul income earner of about $20 a
month. o.O Sad, I know. Yet, my tactic has not worked. So, this brings me back
to the start, should I beg for sales to help my family? NO! I can’t do it and
it wouldn’t help much right now anyway. Reason 1, Amazon takes a big 64¢ of the
99¢ sale, leaving me with 35 cents. WHY? Amazon does nothing for an indie
authors books. We do all the hard work, the hard yards, and they take more than a publishing house that DOES EVERYTHING;
e.g. editing, cover design. Even when we have the option at 70% royalty it
still annoys me they take so much and give so little back. We now have an
option to pay for advertising and yet, it does not work. Reason 2, I wouldn’t
get the royalties for another 2 months anyways, so pushing for sympathy is
pointless and not the person I am.
So, I find myself asking questions that I
have no answer for.
Am I hitting the right audience in
targeting?
Is my product crap and not worth buying?
I have great reviews and yet, I never hit a
mark lower than a 60k ranking. But do people take reviews seriously anymore?
With the ever growing knowledge that some
authors buy reviews or do review swaps, it makes it hard for a genuine reader
to consider MY reviews legit when so many others are known to be false.
I am in a bind and do not know what to do.
I never really got into writing for the money, but at a time that I need it,
the drive is ever more present. Yet, what am I to do? BookBub has rejected my
work 3 times now, and with their ever growing fee, it is out of the question
even if they did deem me worthy enough for their email list.
Well, the only thing to do is keep on
keeping on. Keep doing what I am doing and hope that things get better with
days to come.
I believe my sales will grow, I just need
to be patient and not be one of “those” types. Stay strong and believe in my
work. Find guidance in others to help with a better marketing plan and
targeting basis. There is no shame in asking for help, but I will not beg.
If you know of anyone that enjoys a good
Paranormal read, be sure to mention my name. J My
books will remain 99¢ for the rest of the month. Not sure why. I guess I just
can’t be bothered changing it back to full price. lol
