# Who turned out the lights?



## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

All I can say at the moment is WTF? ? ? ? ?   

8 weeks ago I released my last book. 3 weeks ago, sales started tanking. Last couple of days, its been what sales?

3 weeks ago I was doing an average of 5 books a day for each book across the whole series, being 15 books. Today I sold 4 books total!

My KU is the only thing giving me any income, which has dropped 80% in 3 weeks. But its still going down every day.

I've been moving house, so I knew I was going to take the 60 day cliff hit. But as far as I can tell, the 90 day cliff cut in at 50 days.

I expected to be at half income by the time I get the next book out, but income is currently 30%? And dropping every day. WTF?

So, what is going on? What's changed? Because with 15 books out, I'm currently earning less than when I had 4.

The ranks on the books are not that bad. But the ranks in the sub-cats are mostly terrible. The last book is slowly going backwards, but the rest of the series are vanished in the murk.

I'm not doing any marketing. I tried FB ads and the Amazons ads, and neither did a thing. But is this the thing now? If you're not doing Amazons ads, you get relegated to invisibility?

I just committed to a mortgage, and suddenly my income is dropping like a stone down the abyss, and suddenly I'm shit scared, and depressed. My migraines have been extremely bad recently, my stress levels have been through the stratosphere what with buying, renovating, and moving, and I've not been able to write. So the next book is at least 3 weeks away, unless a miracle happens, and I get a few good writing days.

I dont know what to do. I've read all the marketing threads, and I still dont get it. I've tried a few things, they dont work, like all marketing I've ever tried to do before never worked. The only thing which works for me is getting the next book out.

Sorry. I guess this is why people say dont give up your day job. Only I didn't have one. I was on a disability pension. I still have the disability.

Ironically, without KU, I'd be slitting my wrists about now. Ok, bad joke. But its been a bad month, and just as I'm starting to get a handle on things again, my income tanks. *sigh*

I could use some hugs. I could use some marketing tips written for an 8 year old. I could use some assurance the light at the end of the tunnel isn't an oncoming train.

Well that was interesting.....I suddenly had a thought, and it turned out I'd made a mistake in my bedroom feng shui. So that's probably part of the problem. Certainly explains my emotional state the last couple of weeks.

Anyway, hugs are still welcome. Enlightenment also welcome. Anything positive welcome.


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

These are all things that have worked well for me, and most cost very little:

Make book 1 free and give away a shitload of books. People will buy the rest.

Start a new series and give away the first book of that, too.

Actively recruit people onto your mailing list through competitions and Instafreebie and then sell them your books.

Cross-promotions with other authors to expand your reach.

Signing up for Amazon (and Apple, and B&N and Kobo) affiliates and sell other people's books as well as your own.

None of these will take off like a house on fire, but combined, they will deliver.


----------



## Not any more (Mar 19, 2012)

I released the first in a new series in December. January was gangbusters. February isn't bad, but off 40%, and sales off more. The new release picked up my backlist in another series, and that is accounting for 50% of revenue. But I agree, people are reading but not buying.

As for AMS, that was working well for my new release, but all of a sudden I'm not getting impressions, and when I get clicks, no sales. I suspended it because it was becoming a money pit.


----------



## ChrisWard (Mar 10, 2012)

Hang in there, dude. I release each new book to the sound of crickets. $200 in a month is a good month, and that's after five years. And half of that (at least) is costs. Am I giving up? No damn way. Writing is a long haul career. Keep putting out good new books and keep your nose to the ground looking for new promo opportunities. Got to be in it to win it. Eventually something will click.

Hugs!


----------



## AlecHutson (Sep 26, 2016)

Sorry things are tough right now. I'm a newbie and a prawn, but I'd give Amazon AMS ads a spin. I definitely noticed an uptick.


----------



## T E Scott Writer (Jul 27, 2016)

How about a free run on book 1? Your series is long so you should do well on the sell through. Book a few promos for it (freebooksy, ent, book barbarian)


----------



## The Bass Bagwhan (Mar 9, 2014)

Just stop.
Clearly, with your recent circumstances, your head is not in the right place to properly assess what's happening. 
Most likely, nothing is happening. Your books are just experiencing a glitch in sales.
In this kind of situation you _have_ to sit back, put on your business hat and enable your business brain, and look at options.
You're a good writer with a good readership. That puts you way ahead of the pack.

Good luck with it.


----------



## daveconifer (Oct 20, 2009)

Yeah, like the other said, hang in there, Mr. Ellis.  I know you're a strong writer that readers dig.  This'll pass, maybe it already has.  

But thanks for posting, anything to get tips from Patty Jansen for the rest of us...


----------



## Guest (Feb 8, 2017)

I have no tips or enlightenment, but do have hugs

*HUG*


----------



## Douglas Milewski (Jul 4, 2014)

I saw everything tank in January. My little old sales engine that could, put together with duct tape and prayers, just went kaput. Even permafrees stopped moving except with advertising, and with advertising, I saw no sales tail. Weird times, my friend.


----------



## AliceS (Dec 28, 2014)

So sorry to hear you're stressed out. Moving is very traumatic. You might not realize how much not having your own space, surrounded by your things, can wear you down. Couple of deep breaths. I'd say eat chocolate, but not if you get migraines. (I've heard that feverfew is helpful.) Make sure to give yourself some treats, comfort food and maybe a walk if the weather cooperates. A walk along a stream or other body of water can be very soothing.

Personally, I like to blame anything and everything on sunspots. 

_edited -- please let's stay off politics -- Ann_


----------



## A past poster (Oct 23, 2013)

As others have said: make book 1 in your series free and advertise it on freebooksy, etc.

Advertise on AMS with targeted keywords--author names and book titles are most effective. Pick popular books that cost more than yours.


----------



## Talbot (Jul 14, 2015)

I'm curious about the feng shui tweak. Was something under the bed?!


----------



## truc (Apr 2, 2015)

+1 to trying a permafree. On my old pen name I made the first in series free in a series that was selling horribly (think 200k ranks) and suddenly I was making a ton of money on that series. It eventually became my bestselling series. I also went wide since if it's permafree, why not? But if you're doing well in KU then you may want to think about it some more.


----------



## Guest (Feb 8, 2017)

I'm so sorry you are stressed out. I would be, too, in your position, but hopefully, you have a savings' reserve to get you by.

Time to make some changes.

-Make that first book a perma-free. It's a funnel to the whole series and will attract more readers.

-Go wide with all your books--new readers. Even if this didn't work for you before, it may do so now. Don't go through D2D or the like, unless you have to. Go directly to the vendor. Your books will get more notice and you can take advantage of their sales tools.

-Try old-style marketing (newsletter) with your new perma-free. 

-Time to start a new series. Even the best ones eventually lose the readers' interest.

You've had great success and you must be a good writer, so you can turn things around. Best of luck and hang in there.


----------



## Debbie Bennett (Mar 25, 2011)

Douglas Milewski said:


> I saw everything tank in January. My little old sales engine that could, put together with duct tape and prayers, just went kaput. Even permafrees stopped moving except with advertising, and with advertising, I saw no sales tail. Weird times, my friend.


Me too. Six years I've been in this game - never a mega-seller but it's been OK. Until mid-January when everything ground to a halt more-or-less completely. Like you, even my permafree and sell-throughs are stalling. I have no idea what is going on.


----------



## Jennifer Lewis (Dec 12, 2013)

TimothyEllis said:


> Well that was interesting.....I suddenly had a thought, and it turned out I'd made a mistake in my bedroom feng shui. So that's probably part of the problem. Certainly explains my emotional state the last couple of weeks.


Just had to laugh as I am very into feng shui as well. Am currently writing at my dining room table due to my desk being in a bad location this year, lol.

Anyway, deep breaths. These things come and go. Most likely the books will start selling again for no discernable reason and you'll be scratching your head over that. In the meantime, maybe try a new ad. Even if you find ads challenging, the Amazon ones are super easy to put together, even for an 8 year old 

Do you have box sets of your existing series? If not, then do some of those and advertise them. It's easy to get good ROI when you have an expensive product to sell.


----------



## ......~...... (Jul 4, 2015)

There's no need to go wide. You can make your first book free for a few (2-3) days and get a Freebooksy ad. This usually picks everything up for me if I don't have a new release.

You should also be thinking about starting another series so that you'd have one more way for readers to find you. Better to have two funnels or more than just one.


----------



## Elizabeth Barone (May 6, 2013)

Aw, Timothy. I can relate. I'm disabled -- still in the disability benefits process, sigh, so no relief there -- and when my writing income takes a hit, I panic. My husband is our main source of income and he's out of work right now, recovering from surgery. Three weeks minimum, six weeks max 'til he's allowed to go back, and he doesn't have any vacation time left and no sick time. So I can completely commiserate on all levels -- especially the freezing anxiety.

What's helped me these past couple days is refraining from checking sales and throwing myself into writing my next book. I've also been taking some freelance work through Textbroker to help keep us afloat. The pay isn't great but it's better than nothing. I've also been making sure to practice strict self-care.

That means eating three meals a day, no matter what. Drinking plenty of water. Taking all of my medications on time. Getting into a good sleep schedule (admittedly, I've been staying up pretty late and sleeping in a bit). Avoiding stress and anxiety triggers, and focusing on the things I can control (writing fiction and copywriting for peanuts). Celebrating every 1K that I hit, loudly, on my social media. Doing yoga and meditation (another thing I've been slacking on).

Self-care sometimes also means moving to stay busy. It can be as simple as going on a cleaning spree, or baking or cooking something delicious, or taking a short walk. My body doesn't love mobility, so I have to be careful how much I push myself so that I don't overdo it and aggravate my joints. Sometimes, self-care just simply means breathing.

Self-care won't fix your money problems, but it'll help calm your system so that you're not constantly in panic mode (also known as hypervigilance). When we're anxious, our brain thinks there's danger, so practicing self-care serves as you taking action, and tells your brain "Look, I'm doing something!"

You can also do other things, like contact your bank to see what your options might be if for some chance you can't pay your mortgage in full. I'm not an expert, but speaking from a place of credit card debt, most companies would rather work with you and get paid than receive nothing at all. There are definitely options.

You can also contact 2-1-1 and see if there are any resources for you in your area, such as emergency housing assistance. This way, you've got backup plans and know what they are, again giving your brain another "See! I'm doing something, so shut it."

*hugs* Hang in there, Timothy. I know this feeling all too well, so I really hope things ease up for you soon.


----------



## RomanceAuthor (Aug 18, 2014)

Timothy, you need to *actively* put book 1 in front of readers. You said Amazon/Facebook hasn't worked. . . are you absolutely 100% positive you gave it all your best and it hasn't worked out? If that's the case, try the cross-promotion route like Patty suggested. Talk to Mark E. Cooper, I believe your genres are similar. He puts out books very rarely and yet makes 5 figures a month. He advertises a lot. Patty also made great points. Find what works for you, but your situation now is exactly why you need to find the marketing that works for your audience. Relying on the 'zon algorithms (which love new books) is not enough in my opinion. Otherwise, whenever you need to take a break between books, you'll get heartburn from all the stress.


----------



## Jo Black (Jan 12, 2017)

Everything ground to a halt mid-january. Even permafree numbers went into the weeds. If we're all seeing the same thing then it must be correlation as its not genre specific. 150 launch sales in January got me to 2nd place on uk genre pop list ahead of guts like Lee child so it's simply nobody buying books.

Stay calm, it always picks up by Easter.

_Edited to remove political comment. --Betsy_


----------



## NoLongerPosting (Apr 5, 2014)

Removed due to site owner's change to TOS.


----------



## writerc (Apr 15, 2016)

I'm a non published prawn so I have nothing to offer in terms of publishing advice but my heart went out to you when I read your post and I just wanted to send you a hug too. I really hope things get better soon. x


----------



## AmpersandBookInteriors (Feb 10, 2012)

Jo Black said:


> Everything ground to a halt mid-january. Even permafree numbers went into the weeds. If we're all seeing the same thing then it must be correlation as its not genre specific. 150 launch sales in January got me to 2nd place on uk genre pop list ahead of guts like Lee child so it's simply nobody buying books.


For some people, it ground to halt in early November. For some of us, literally on election night. I have numbers for it.

_Edited quoted post. --Betsy_


----------



## AllyWho (May 16, 2015)

TimothyEllis said:


> I dont know what to do. I've read all the marketing threads, and I still dont get it.


There's no secret or mystery to marketing - you go to an advertiser's website (like ENT, RobinReads, Bookbub etc) and fill out the form. Done. It takes maybe a few minutes. Personally all I do is book one spot each month and that's it, some authors do more but we all find the balance that works for us.

Since your books are in KU, use your free days to give the series a boost.

There are plenty of threads on the k-boards listing different advertisers and if you follow the results of someone who writes a similar genre to you, you will have a rough idea of which ones will deliver better results.


----------



## 10105 (Feb 16, 2010)

Jo Black said:


> I think it's the trump circus. Everything ground to a halt mid-january.


This...


Write.Dream.Repeat. said:


> For some people, it ground to halt in early November. For some of us, literally on election night.


...and this. My wife used to read two or three books a week. She now spends that time hanging on news reports. I think our readerships have switched their loyalties to Hannity and Rachael and their colleagues depending, of course, on the readers' bents.

Maybe with time...


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

Al Stevens said:


> This......and this. My wife used to read two or three books a week. She now spends that time hanging on news reports. I think our readerships have switched their loyalties to Hannity and Rachael and their colleagues depending, of course, on the readers' bents.
> 
> Maybe with time...


Oh, man, it is so easy to blame external factors and sit back and whine. Don't encourage this, because it's counter-productive.

You know, it sucks to stop selling and you'll never know why it happened, but one thing you do know: you (general you) have to start doing something.

Here is a plan.

Tim's books are in Select.

He will use all his free days on book 1. Set them for two periods in the Select term: one for two days, one for three.

Then book 2-3 ad sites. ENT, Robin Reads, Book Barbarian, etc. etc. etc. There are lists of these places.

Do this religiously *regardless of results* DON'T fall into the temptation of stopping "because it didn't work". Don't. Stop checking sales if you feel tempted. Just do it, every six weeks. Find new small sites to promo. Book 2-3 of them for every free run.

Rinse and repeat.

Meanwhile, start a new series.


----------



## JaclynDolamore (Nov 5, 2015)

I agree that the election really did hurt sales in general. Maybe some genres more than others. My sales fell off a cliff on Thanksgiving and have never recovered; since inauguration day was especially bad though.

BUT I also agree with Patty, blaming something else for it can easily become an excuse to do nothing. Even though my sales are all down, I put out a new book and boosted it with $350 worth of promo, and my sales have gone from an average of $60-70 a day in January back to $100 a day in February. Sure, I miss October when I was at $150 a day but people are still reading SOMETHING. I'm also halfway through book one in a new series already.

Pauline Ross just did a one day free run post http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,246726.0.html that could make for a very easy template of how to plan a free run, you could scale up or down according to budget or adjust promo sites based on genre, etc.


----------



## Guy Riessen (Mar 27, 2016)

Patty Jansen said:


> Oh, man, it is so easy to blame external factors and sit back and whine. Don't encourage this, because it's counter-productive.
> 
> You know, it sucks to stop selling and you'll never know why it happened, but one thing you do know: you (general you) have to start doing something.
> 
> ...


Ignoring external factors that are out of your control is a recipe for depression. Seriously. Accept that the election/inauguration has thrown normal markets for a loop and that you'll need to sell harder to capture the limited attention available to sell to.

I think you've got a solid platform to start from too--the fact that your books were selling well without any advertising means that if you make a push as Patty Jensen is advocating, you should be able to reclaim much of your market. What would have increased your sales before the downturn should lift you back up to your normal levels.

But also, Good Luck and a Hug!


----------



## Guest (Feb 9, 2017)

Patty Jansen said:


> Oh, man, it is so easy to blame external factors and sit back and whine. Don't encourage this, because it's counter-productive.


Patty, I agree with you 100%.

_edited for content . . . please stay away from the political, thanks._


----------



## ......~...... (Jul 4, 2015)

January and February have been my best months in awhile. I guess my readers need escapism. 

_edited to remove quote to now-deleted content._


----------



## Mari Oliver (Feb 12, 2016)

Hi, Timothy. HUGS. I'm sorry you're sad and struggling. Please consider reaching out for help to a friend or neighbor. You've done good in reaching out here for support, but also someone close to you may be able to help with moving/unpacking and making meals. I agree with others here about doing some massive tlc when you can spare it. Take care of yourself, be kind to yourself. I also agree about starting a new series and trying the perma-free. Give something a shake and see what comes out of it. I'm going through something similar in my personal life and it's been hard to concentrate on writing. I do what I can and even then it feels like nothing is enough. All I can say is that life has these bumpy roads and we can only do so much to make it through the day at once.


----------



## 10105 (Feb 16, 2010)

Patty Jansen said:


> Oh, man, it is so easy to blame external factors and sit back and whine.


I find your characterization of my post to be inaccurate, insulting, and typical.


----------



## Patty Jansen (Apr 5, 2011)

I'm not going to derail this thread to respond to ad-hominem remarks (feel free to hate me, it's not like I care), but I just want to note that in amongst the there-there backpatting, Tim was asking for something he could do. I proposed something for him. He doesn't have to follow it, but sitting and wallowing, as encouraged by blame-seeking is not going to help him.

But I guess no one wants it, so I'm out.


----------



## Seneca42 (Dec 11, 2016)

TimothyEllis said:


> 8 weeks ago I released my last book. 3 weeks ago, sales started tanking. Last couple of days, its been what sales?


figured I'd chime in just because I found the comments in this thread to be absurd and felt bad for you. Not sure why people are blaming your strategy or saying you are whining.

If you were selling 75 books a day (assuming that trend was established and not a blip on the radar) and now are selling 4 per day; and your KU reads have dropped 80%... that's messed up.

Write more books? What kind of advice is that? You have 15 books!

I am sort of shocked that people are telling you to promo more or write more. If that was your issue you wouldn't have been selling at 75 books a day.

It sounds like amazon algos dumped you into oblivion. Either that or the 75 per day was the abnormality (ie. the algos temporarily bumped you up in front of a ton of readers).

Either way, not much you can do other than send them an email and ask them to check your data to make sure something funky isn't going on.

This is yet another reason why I think being 100% Amazon is a bad strategy. If something does go wrong on their end, it's like Jason chasing you through the woods with a machete.

Anyway, contact Amazon and get them to review your account to make sure things aren't messed up on their end.

Or you can do what others have said, write three more books, publish them in the next month, spend $200 on promo, do a book trailer, $100 in FB ads, get an endorsement from Stephen King, then write 5 more books in the next month and it will all work out.


----------



## AllyWho (May 16, 2015)

Seneca42 said:


> Write more books? What kind of advice is that? You have 15 books!
> 
> I am sort of shocked that people are telling you to promo more or write more. If that was your issue you wouldn't have been selling at 75 books a day.
> 
> It sounds like amazon algos dumped you into oblivion.


The OP has written a 13 book series. The advice (if you read it) is not simply write more, but write something new, as in a new series. When you have 1 long running series, you only have 1 entry point for readers. And yes, that single entry point needs to be advertised in some form to keep readers finding it.

When I looked the OP's book #13 in the series was ranked around #12,000 overall in the store, that is hardly "dumped into oblivion" especially when you consider the length of the series. When you have one long running series, now up to 13 books, it could simply be reader fatigue and the series being past it's natural end. There is nothing to blame on Amazon, the election or any other external factor. It looks like simply that the OP chose to keep a sole series going when perhaps a new series would have given him more options and more entry points for new readers.


----------



## geronl (May 7, 2015)

Timothy, I wish you all the luck in the world (cuz I don't have any) in  getting your sales figures back up. A lot of us were very happy to see how successful your series was. This must feel like your show got cancelled, in a manner of speaking. Don't get depressed, it isn't productive. I know from experience. You did it once and if you have an idea for a second series you have one more huge reason to go for it.


----------



## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

Anma Natsu said:


> I have no tips or enlightenment, but do have hugs
> 
> *HUG*


Thanks! Very much appreciated, for all those who sent them.



Jessie G. Talbot said:


> I'm curious about the feng shui tweak. Was something under the bed?!


Well there are 2 turtles under the bed, but this is because the bed is in a very non-standard position. Turtles replace the support of a wall.

No, the problem was in the alignment of the bed. Turns out the magnetics in my new bedroom are not quite the same as in the adjoining rooms, so I was sleeping more south than south west, without knowing it. Since South is serious loss for me, it explains why everything has gone pair shaped for me since I moved in. I changed it last night so I'm sleeping midway between sw and w, but my feet now point into a corner, rather than a window. Not ideal, hence the turtles. But I sacrificed room in my bedroom to get more desk space, making the bedroom compromised. Still, I should have checked the compass better when I was placing the bed the first time.



truc said:


> +1 to trying a permafree.


Book 1 has only just gone back into KU, so I cant list it anywhere else until it comes out again. So not a short term thing.



Patty Jansen said:


> Meanwhile, start a new series.


I have. WIP is book 1 in a spin off series which can be read standalone. Its also using the one character people indicated they wanted to know more about and see be more primary. Its about 2/3 written at the moment, but its been that way for about a month now. I get little bits done, but nothing major. Mind you, last night I managed something over 1000 words, so its a start.



Patty Jansen said:


> Here is a plan.
> Tim's books are in Select.
> He will use all his free days on book 1. Set them for two periods in the Select term: one for two days, one for three.
> Then book 2-3 ad sites. ENT, Robin Reads, Book Barbarian, etc. etc. etc. There are lists of these places.
> ...


Not quite down to 8 year old level, but better than the first post Patty.

The thing is, with a 40 year history of marketing failures, this simple process is so daunting!



Seneca42 said:


> If you were selling 75 books a day (assuming that trend was established and not a blip on the radar) and now are selling 4 per day; and your KU reads have dropped 80%... that's messed up.


The math is doing my head in. Its not quite like that, but in money terms, I'm earning about 20-25% of what my average has been for the last 18 months. The last time it was this bad, was after I'd gone a full 3 months without a release. Which is why I said it feels like the 90 day cliff is now at 50 days. I'm at 60 days now, but income represents what used to be 100 days without a release.

Sales blipped back today. But the last time they blipped, was followed by a new worst day.

Its like the algorithm is set so a one day spike is ignored completely, so the following day you get no benefit at all. Or the one day spike actually has a negative effect, unless followed by an equally good day, which it never is.



AliceW said:


> When I looked the OP's book #13 in the series was ranked around #12,000 overall in the store, that is hardly "dumped into oblivion" especially when you consider the length of the series. When you have one long running series, now up to 13 books, it could simply be reader fatigue and the series being past it's natural end. There is nothing to blame on Amazon, the election or any other external factor. It looks like simply that the OP chose to keep a sole series going when perhaps a new series would have given him more options and more entry points for new readers.


Book 13 is currently around 16,000, but has been going up and down a lot. In terms of normal for me, this is terrible for only 8 weeks after release. But then, both of the last 2 books haven't performed, and neither got an Amazon follower email.

Thing is though, the rank isn't representative of the sales/reads imo. It should be a lot worse than it is, which possibly indicates sales are well down generally.

It wasn't really a choice about the length of the series. It just ended up that long. A bit short of a million words. Yes, it started dropping off after book 9, but I was locked in by then and had to keep going. Lesson learned. Pay more attention to writing trilogies from now on.



geronl said:


> if you have an idea for a second series you have one more huge reason to go for it.


Yes, but I need a brain, and some calm. Working on it.

I have 2 trilogies in mind, the spin off I've started, and a direct sequel. Also playing with something new at the back of my mind and waiting for it to take shape better. So plenty of writing to do, just haven't been able to do it. And therein lies the frustration factor.


----------



## 77071 (May 15, 2014)

I feel like a lot of people are struggling, and while there are various theories about why, I'm really sorry for you (and everybody else) who's been hit so hard.  

This might be something you need to power through (working harder, advertising more, contacting Amazon, etc.), or it might be something you need to wait through, a dip in sales that's going to hurt till you're back up there making good money.

I wish I knew what to tell you, but you've gotten a lot of advice already.  The only thing I can say is try to cut back to only essential spending for a while (you probably have already!) and hang in there.  Do what you can, but try not to carry it all on your shoulders constantly.

You will get through this.  You've gotten through tough times before.


----------



## Seneca42 (Dec 11, 2016)

AliceW said:


> When I looked the OP's book #13 in the series was ranked around #12,000 overall in the store, that is hardly "dumped into oblivion" especially when you consider the length of the series. When you have one long running series, now up to 13 books, it could simply be reader fatigue and the series being past it's natural end. There is nothing to blame on Amazon, the election or any other external factor. It looks like simply that the OP chose to keep a sole series going when perhaps a new series would have given him more options and more entry points for new readers.


You do not drop from 75 sales a day to 4 from reader fatigue. You would get a gradual decline, not a hard stop.

I'm just flabbergasted that people think one month you could be cranking out around 2,250 direct sales and then the next month it drops to 120 and think that's normal. That's almost a 95% drop in sales. Add to that an 80% drop in KU reads.

As I say, either the 2,250 is the abnormality (ie. bookbub, or algo boost, or whatever) OR the 120 is the abnormality (ie. algo dump).

I don't know, if people now consider sudden sales attrition of 95% to be normal, there's not much else to say.


----------



## EC Sheedy (Feb 24, 2011)

No advice. Lots of good stuff up thread already . . . 

But good luck with getting your writing mojo back. The writing gets hard when the creative brain is distracted and overwrought. If I had a cure I'd pass it along, but I don't--although I'm pretty sure I could come up with a platitude or two. But I'll spare you that and just say I truly hope things change for the better soon, either because you did something brilliant, or because the universe tilted in your favor. It can happen either way.


----------



## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

TimothyEllis said:


> Not quite down to 8 year old level, but better than the first post Patty.
> 
> The thing is, with a 40 year history of marketing failures, this simple process is so daunting!


Don't think of it as "marketing," Tim. That's such a big word. It sounds all professional and complicated. Think of it instead like ... you're having a two-day garage sale. Maybe you actually had one of those before you moved, eh? Well, no one will come to your garage sale if they don't know it's happening. So you have to tell people about the sale.

First you get a permit from your city to hold the sale. You do that by going to your KDP dashboard and scheduling your book to be free for two consecutive days, maybe in late March.

Then you'll need to put a sign out in from of your house that says, "SALE TODAY, 9-3." You do that by going to ENT and filling out this form.

Then you'll also want to put a sign out on the nearest main street, pointing toward the turnoff to your house. You do that by going to Robin Reads and filling out this form.

Put a few more signs up around your area to pull in traffic (that is, sign up for a few more sites). Make sure to put several signs out for the second day as well -- the city may have come 'round and taken down the ones you put up the first day. For instance, you might post it Day 2 on Craigslist, meaning you go to Freebooksy and fill out this form.

The morning of the sale, make sure you have your permit in order, in case the cops drop by (that is, make sure your book is showing up as free; if there's a problem, contact KDP right away).

That's it!

But six weeks later, you discover a room in the basement that needs to be cleaned out, so you put up your signs and hold another garage sale. And so forth.

In other words, you got this. Just recognize it for the small, ordinary task it is. 



Seneca42 said:


> You do not drop from 75 sales a day to 4 from reader fatigue. You would get a gradual decline, not a hard stop.
> 
> I'm just flabbergasted that people think one month you could be cranking out around 2,250 direct sales and then the next month it drops to 120 and think that's normal. That's almost a 95% drop in sales. Add to that an 80% drop in KU reads.
> 
> ...


Unless there's a very clear and fixable problem, I'm not sure it matters why these things happen. Even if it's due to random chance, you still have to try to improve the situation. Can't hurt to check with Amazon, of course. But it seems likely they'll come back with their standard "All fine on our end!" form letter.


----------



## SC (Jan 6, 2017)

BJ Bourg said:


> Patty, I agree with you 100%.


As soon as someone suggested that people are just too depressed to read because of politics, I immediately wondered if books with a more conservative readership were seeing either no change in sales or a boost. Because if we assume that liberal-leaning people are so distraught that they're not reading anymore, it would logically follow that the other half of the country was happier and therefore reading more.

We'd probably need a fair amount of data to really determine if politics has anything to do with it, which I doubt enough authors would be willing to share.

Since we are unlikely to get the kind of data we'd need to form any kind of solid conclusion in this matter, I'm also inclined to suggest people not try to blame politics but rather for each author who is seeing drops in sales (for whatever reason they may be happening) to do what they can to try to pick them back up. (Asking for advice on how to do that was a good idea.) The world often presents us with events that are beyond our control or understanding. Staying focused and productive is one of the most important things to do at these times (as far as your writing career goes, anyway).

To the OP, I totally sympathize with your situation. That really sucks. Try to focus on what actions you can take, what is within your control, rather than the things you can't control.

_edited to remove now-deleted content_


----------



## PearlEarringLady (Feb 28, 2014)

JaclynDolamore said:


> Pauline Ross just did a one day free run post http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,246726.0.html that could make for a very easy template of how to plan a free run, you could scale up or down according to budget or adjust promo sites based on genre, etc.


I think the 'plan' part of this might be offputting for Tim at the moment. I started booking sites for this promo 2 months ahead of time to get people like RobinReads; I applied to ENT _exactly _30 days ahead of time; I filled in with last-minute smaller sites, and at least one was already full by then. It wasn't easy to get all those ducks in a row.

What I recommend for promo newbies is FreeBooksy because you don't have to start planning months ahead. For scifi, they have slots available from Sunday onwards, at a cost of $70, and with 12 other books in the series, Tim really couldn't fail to make money from it.

Chin up, Tim. You have one incomparable advantage over a lot of authors: you KNOW readers love your books. It's just a matter of finding some new ones.


----------



## RomanceAuthor (Aug 18, 2014)

Seneca42 said:


> You do not drop from 75 sales a day to 4 from reader fatigue. You would get a gradual decline, not a hard stop.
> 
> I'm just flabbergasted that people think one month you could be cranking out around 2,250 direct sales and then the next month it drops to 120 and think that's normal. That's almost a 95% drop in sales. Add to that an 80% drop in KU reads.
> 
> ...


Seneca, Yes it actually can ba normal. Tim was publishing a book every 6-8 weeks in the period when he was selling a lot. That led to lagos giving him a boost. Book 1 was also ranked high which brought in new readers. When the 60 day cliff hit, algos stopped promoting the series. Yes that can lead to a dreadful fall. It's not abnormal. This is why it's important to learn to advertise. So you're not at the mercy of amazon algos.

And normally, with 15 books out it wouldn't be a life or death situation to publish something new. But the only point of entry to this series is book 1.he can't advertise any of the others in the series.

@Tim - try the small promos patty mentioned, apply for Bookbub  that will hopefully bring you some peace of mind!

@everyone about elections- not everyone saw a drop in sales since then. I talk to many authors who are not on this board, but other than ppl reporting a decrease in sales on election day there hasn't been a widespread slowdown in sales since


----------



## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

Guy Riessen said:


> Ignoring external factors that are out of your control is a recipe for depression. Seriously. Accept that the election/inauguration has thrown normal markets for a loop and that you'll need to sell harder to capture the limited attention available to sell to.
> 
> But also, Good Luck and a Hug!


Except that you don't know what if any external factors reduced his sales.

I wouldn't mention this because it seems a bit rude but last month was good for me and this month set to be one of my best months ever. I saw a dip on election day and December was a poor month, but I have yet in the past six years to have a good December.

We rarely have enough information, especially with how stingy Amazon is with information, about the weird vagaries of our sales to be sure what's behind them. Mine frequently go up or down with no obvious explanation. Or we guess and have no clue whether our guess is right or not.

As a good friend of my used to say, "It's all in the lap of the gods--the lap of the gods." So it is.


----------



## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

RomanceAuthor said:


> apply for Bookbub


 

BB hate me. I obviously dont write what their selectors think their readers want. And they never will, since people like me who read what I write, give up on them ever recommending anything readable, and stop getting their emails. Self-fulfilling delusion on their part. Until they get a selector who actually likes Space Opera, only the high flyers in SO ever get a BB.

I've done everything I can to get a BB, including a new cover, and nothing works with them. But then, I have less than 20 followers with them, so why would they care? Yes, they dont take that into account - but they can pull the other leg because it has bells on.



PaulineMRoss said:


> I think the 'plan' part of this might be offputting for Tim at the moment.
> ....
> Chin up, Tim. You have one incomparable advantage over a lot of authors: you KNOW readers love your books. It's just a matter of finding some new ones.


The plan part of anything is beyond me at the moment. It's been a truly stressful month, in the off the galaxy category. I cant seem to cope with anything at the moment. Hence needing instructions in the 8 year old level. Then again, maybe I need an 8 year old to do it for me?

It always is the finding new readers problem. I knew I was going to take a hit while I moved, but I wasn't expecting to be relegated to the basement carpark and have the building fall on me. Now of course I'm stressed out of my brain, which isn't working properly anyway, and adding money worries on top of everything else. The pressure now to get writing again and get the next book out is a killer.


----------



## Seneca42 (Dec 11, 2016)

RomanceAuthor said:


> Seneca, Yes it actually can ba normal. Tim was publishing a book every 6-8 weeks in the period when he was selling a lot. That led to lagos giving him a boost. Book 1 was also ranked high which brought in new readers. When the 60 day cliff hit, algos stopped promoting the series. Yes that can lead to a dreadful fall. It's not abnormal. This is why it's important to learn to advertise. So you're not at the mercy of amazon algos.


Can you explain this further for me so I can understand.

So the algos were generating 2,250 direct sales? Then they shut off and he dropped to 120 units?

If that's the case, then Amazon is more screwed up than I realized. So litearlly 95% of his sales were amazon algo dependent?

And if his first book was highly ranked, would that not continue to drive readers in? Or are you saying that his new books were generating an algo bump on his entire series? (ie. it wasn't his high rank bringing in readers, but rather amazon algos were driving reader awareness which was then creating the high rank when people got book 1?)

I'm genuinely interested, as it sounds like what you are saying could be possible. It's incredibly scary if it is, as someone's sales could be 95% dependent on what Amazon's algos do.

Either way, the abnormality was caused by something. Readership doesn't generically just drop off by 95% in a month.


----------



## David VanDyke (Jan 3, 2014)

New cover for your book 1. The current one is not representative of the genre. Look at successful book covers in your genres and imitate them. Even your book 2 and onward covers are better. Then go permafree book 1, 2.99 book 2. Promote the book 1. The book 1 is your sample of tasty pizza. Make sure it's the best pizza sample you can give people.

Also, you should have long ago gotten paperbacks and audiobooks up. Each takes content you already have and monetizes it further.


----------



## RinG (Mar 12, 2013)

Have you tried making a box set of your first 3 books and putting that on bookbub? They seem to really like box sets at the moment. It will also give you a new release to get you on the new releases list.


----------



## Goulburn (May 21, 2014)

Anma Natsu said:


> I have no tips or enlightenment, but do have hugs
> 
> *HUG*


Adding my hugs too. That's not a lot of practical help I know. 
I believe in the first book free, and cross-promoting with other authors as already covered here.


----------



## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

David VanDyke said:


> New cover for your book 1. The current one is not representative of the genre. Look at successful book covers in your genres and imitate them. Even your book 2 and onward covers are better. Then go permafree book 1, 2.99 book 2. Promote the book 1. The book 1 is your sample of tasty pizza. Make sure it's the best pizza sample you can give people.
> Also, you should have long ago gotten paperbacks and audiobooks up. Each takes content you already have and monetizes it further.


Book 1 just had a new cover, and it was designed to fit the covers for 12 and 13. The whole 'new cover' thing is a snake eating its own tail. The worst covers in the series were 1 and 2. I'm still thinking about how to redo 2, but that is on hold as well at the moment.

As said before, I cant do permafree until it comes out of KU, and that is over 2 months away. It also means I have to take the first omnibus out of KU as well.

I'm not in the US or UK, so audiobooks are not a happening thing, until they start accepting from Australians. In the meantime, the available options are simply not good enough.

The first paperback for the series was a complete and total flop. As far as I can see, the only way of selling paperbacks is for when I finally get a table at Supanova and flog them myself. This may happen, but it will be April before I get to one just to check it out, and probably later in the year before all 4 omnibus versions are out in print. In the meantime, the 2nd one is on hold since it just isn't worth spending the money on something which isn't going to sell. Its going to cost me over $250 to get it converted for print, and for now, I dont see the point.



Seneca42 said:


> Or are you saying that his new books were generating an algo bump on his entire series? (ie. it wasn't his high rank bringing in readers, but rather amazon algos were driving reader awareness which was then creating the high rank when people got book 1?)


Something like that. Each new release gives the series visibility. The blurb on each book, has the series list on the end, and people find book one from the latest release, and the whole series gets a boost.

But something changed. At one time I had all 5 original books in the top 20 of my best sub-cat, for something like 6 months, as each new book boosted the series. Then something changed and suddenly they all dropped out of the top 100 in the space of a few months. Since about book 8, each new book debuted in the top 6-700 in the paid store, and took several months to drop below 20,000. The last couple of books have debuted closer to 1000, and dropped out of the 10,000 in a matter of a week or so.

So recently, there has been less and less boost to the series, much less boost to my author rank, and less flow through.

Talking of author rank, book 5 took me to #14 in Sci-fi for about a day. #12 is a much better book, but my author rank didn't get above 134. 13 got me to 124 for a day. Both are much better books, but have performed a great deal worse than expected.

Amazon did algorithm tweeks last year at the same time they changed KU. Its been much harder to get author rank since then, and every book since has done worse. Co-incidence? Could be. But they did change the algorithms, that much is certain.

I think its been double and triple whammy for me. Algo tweeks, political distractions, and a series past its use by date I was committed to completing.

Its all good experience, but when it all comes crashing down on you at once, its hard to keep focused.



Rinelle Grey said:


> Have you tried making a box set of your first 3 books and putting that on bookbub? They seem to really like box sets at the moment. It will also give you a new release to get you on the new releases list.


Yes, first 2 books are in an omnibus edition. BB hated that as well. As far as a new release went, total non-event. Its ranked down in the million plus. So is the second one, which is the next 3 books. I'm considering removing both of them, but I need the pages read at the moment.


----------



## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

Seneca42 said:


> If that's the case, then Amazon is more screwed up than I realized. So litearlly 95% of his sales were amazon algo dependent?


If you're not advertising/marketing, I think almost all your sales would come from visibility on Amazon (or other sites), which is all algorithm-driven. The only other source I can think of is reader word of mouth. I mean, there isn't really anything else, is there?


----------



## RomanceAuthor (Aug 18, 2014)

Seneca42 said:


> Can you explain this further for me so I can understand.
> 
> So the algos were generating 2,250 direct sales? Then they shut off and he dropped to 120 units?
> 
> ...


I don't think they drooped from 2,250 to 120, since Time mentioned he's now making 1/3rd of what he used to.

It's not an exact science unfortunately, so you can never say that the algos were generating 2,250 direct sales. But they might have been generating 1000 sales, and the other 1250 were organic sales which came *as a result* of the visibility the algos were giving to the first 1000. But the moment the algos "stopped" selling those 1000, Tim wasn't left with the 1250 organic sales. . .because the visibility of the first 1000 was lacking. This is a gross simplification anyway. . .

So: a new book in series would get algorithm love, which would then spread to the entire series, ALSO bumping book 1
Then: Book 1 would bring in new readers
-> when Tim stopped publishing in the series, the algos didn't have new releases to bump, so they "forgot" about the series altogether, which took away from the visibility. That spiraled throughout the entire series. . .

Damn, I sound like a crazy person. I don't think I'm doing a great job explaining this, but I don't know how to put it better. Maybe I'm wrong, but it's a pattern I have observed with my series as well as that of other authors, but nothing scientific of course.

*@Tim, the simplest marketing tactic I can think of is:
1. use 2 out of your 5 free days
2. Book Freebooksy (i think they're not that hard to get into) for those 2 days
3. Ask some authors in your genre to include your free book in your newsletter (Patty, Mark Cooper), and do the same for them  *


----------



## Guest (Feb 9, 2017)

Tim hasn't had a new release since December. His last release before that was October. The first book in his main series came out in April 2015.

I don't care how well he was selling, Tim's release schedule is not fast enough in the current climate. You cannot let months go by without releasing. He should have been working on a followup series for readers to transition onto when the books were hot and selling, and then get the new series selling from that, and then make a third series.

Writing 2000 words a day is not enough for an indie author UNLESS YOU ARE LUCKY.

Tim's luck has run out. 

As has mine lol

A novel from him every 2 weeks for six months straight will fix his sales.


----------



## RomanceAuthor (Aug 18, 2014)

ShaneJeffery said:


> Tim hasn't had a new release since December. His last release before that was October. The first book in his main series came out in April 2015.
> 
> I don't care how well he was selling, Tim's release schedule is not fast enough in the current climate. You cannot let months go by without releasing. He should have been working on a followup series for readers to transition onto when the books were hot and selling, and then get the new series selling from that, and then make a third series.
> 
> ...


I do well on a 4-books a year schedule. I really don't think it's necessary to publish every 2 weeks...but some marketing is necessary to keep sales up in between releases


----------



## Guest (Feb 9, 2017)

RomanceAuthor said:


> I do well on a 4-books a year schedule. I really don't think it's necessary to publish every 2 weeks...but some marketing is necessary to keep sales up in between releases


You don't think it's necessary to publish every 2 weeks - BECAUSE YOU'RE DOING WELL

If you weren't doing well, if your sales were at 30% and crashing, would you still hold yourself to the same low standards?


----------



## RomanceAuthor (Aug 18, 2014)

ShaneJeffery said:


> If you weren't doing well, if your sales were at 30% and crashing, would you still hold yourself to the same low standards?


I don't think 4 books a year is a low standard at all. I bust my ass to get sales, and if I wouldn't sell I'd take a step back and analyze what I'm doing wrong, and change gears. I would definitely not attempt to write what...24 books a year I know my limits and how long it takes me to write a good book. What helped me sell 20x more books than I used to wasn't publishing 20x more books. It was learning what kind of marketing works for my audience and apply it.

And with this, I'm out of this thread. I don't have any more advice than what I already posted.


----------



## Guest (Feb 9, 2017)

RomanceAuthor said:


> I don't think 4 books a year is a low standard at all. I bust my ass to get sales, and if I wouldn't sell I'd take a step back and analyze what I'm doing wrong, and change gears. I would definitely not attempt to write what...24 books a year I know my limits and how long it takes me to write a good book. What helped me sell 20x more books than I used to wasn't publishing 20x more books. It was learning what kind of marketing works for my audience and apply it.
> 
> And with this, I'm out of this thread. I don't have any more advice than what I already posted.


I would never, ever, assume any author is as lucky as you are.

Did you first publish 20 books in a year, and then publish 4 books in a year (under a new name) to compare results? Because the notion that writing less is better is incorrect. Writing more will always be better. It will always make you more money.

You marketing gurus will outsell every great author in business. If anyone wants to go down that road and master marketing to keep their books alive then good luck to them. While you are busy with your marketing, I'll be writing and producing more books for my readers than you are.

And what is marketing anyway? Filling out online forms at book advertising sites? Oh no - where do you find the time to write anything, with all those forms you have to fill out

You don't think 4 books a year is a low standard because it is servicing your needs. End of story.

I have long bought into the notion that you need to write something that will magically float up the charts, sell like a bullet, cater to every commercial requirement. I'm not doing it anymore. I have sacrificed too much on that bad advice.

The way forward is reader interaction / building subscribers. You must keep the readers you have before seeking more. You must aim for a long term build.

All this - I put a zillion ads out, first time authors getting a hundred reviews on their first book before release - I don't want any part of it. It works for the lucky, but not for the unlucky. For the unlucky, organic growth and sustained effort are the standard to aim for.


----------



## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

ShaneJeffery said:


> Tim hasn't had a new release since December. His last release before that was October. The first book in his main series came out in April 2015.
> 
> I don't care how well he was selling, Tim's release schedule is not fast enough in the current climate. You cannot let months go by without releasing. He should have been working on a followup series for readers to transition onto when the books were hot and selling, and then get the new series selling from that, and then make a third series.
> 
> ...


I dont disagree with you. I've always aimed for a 6 week release schedule. But health issues in 2016 made it impossible. I had the next book 2/3 complete back in December, but then I got on the buy a house, renovate, and move roller coaster in January, and the resulting stress and health complications blew the month away. I knew it was going to happen. I didn't expect to drop into the abyss a month early.

If I can get back into 5000 word a day mode, I can knock this book out in good time. Otherwise, it could be a few weeks yet. Once back in the groove, I'll be aiming for the 6 weeks schedule again.

In the meantime, I plan for April to be very very lean.


----------



## VanessaC (Jan 14, 2017)

I don't know if this is helpful or not - feel free to ignore.

Dropping in to add some sympathy on the upheaval after a house move. I thought I knew how disruptive it would be -ha!- but the reality was so much worse. I work from home and am self employed. It was a rough few months - took me ages to get back to a routine.

Not published yet so please take this with a large dose of salt if it doesn't feel right.

Assuming that you have your writing / work space organised, pick just one thing to do - for example if your head isn't in a writing space, can you organise some promo as suggested up thread? That feels to me (total newbie) like a process thing involving different part of the brain than the creative part that does writing. 

If you aren't comfortable with your writing / workspace yet, do that first. Yeah it feels counter intuitive, taking time out of "work", but until I had my desk set up right I could not work effectively.

Also take time for self care - don't push yourself too hard - for example don't try / expect to do a full day every day if you can't - I found moving exhausting physically and emotionally so I just had to do what I could, did a bit every day and gradually it got easier and better. 

Good luck!


----------



## RomanceAuthor (Aug 18, 2014)

ShaneJeffery said:


> I would never, ever, assume any author is as lucky as you are.
> 
> Did you first publish 20 books in a year, and then publish 4 books in a year (under a new name) to compare results? Because the notion that writing less is better is incorrect. Writing more will always be better. It will always make you more money.
> 
> ...


I wasn't knocking down anyone putting out 20 books a year. I think it's amazing that anyone can do that, and I'd LOVE to be able to do the same. But, as I said, I have my limitations, so I literally can't, which is why I had to learn to market.

Everyone has to do what works for them.


----------



## Jan Hurst-Nicholson (Aug 25, 2010)

Becca Mills said:


> If you're not advertising/marketing, I think almost all your sales would come from visibility on Amazon (or other sites), which is all algorithm-driven. The only other source I can think of is reader word of mouth. I mean, there isn't really anything else, is there?


There is always the KBoards Book Bazaar


----------



## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

Jan Hurst-Nicholson said:


> There is always the KBoards Book Bazaar


I sort of gave up on that a long time ago. There's a series thread around somewhere, but I haven't posted on it since about book 5 I think.

Some of the regular posters pushing the same books all the time put me right off it.

Does anyone actually pay any attention there? I see the threads on the unread posts list everyday, but a lot of it just seems like spam. No offense meant to posters.


----------



## Guest (Feb 9, 2017)

RomanceAuthor said:


> I wasn't knocking down anyone putting out 20 books a year. I think it's amazing that anyone can do that, and I'd LOVE to be able to do the same. But, as I said, I have my limitations, so I literally can't, which is why I had to learn to market.
> 
> Everyone has to do what works for them.


Yes of course they do. I just have very little faith in marketing. Mastering that aspect of the business is a far more challenging task for someone like me, whereas I know that if I train myself right, and put it months and months of hardened work I can produce higher work outputs that will allow me to have more for sale and increase my visibility and prospects.



TimothyEllis said:


> I dont disagree with you. I've always aimed for a 6 week release schedule. But health issues in 2016 made it impossible. I had the next book 2/3 complete back in December, but then I got on the buy a house, renovate, and move roller coaster in January, and the resulting stress and health complications blew the month away. I knew it was going to happen. I didn't expect to drop into the abyss a month early.
> 
> If I can get back into 5000 word a day mode, I can knock this book out in good time. Otherwise, it could be a few weeks yet. Once back in the groove, I'll be aiming for the 6 weeks schedule again.
> 
> In the meantime, I plan for April to be very very lean.


If you get back into that release pattern, I'm sure things will pick up for you. I'd wrap up your current series soon and then establish a new series before working on having a back up series to go with it. Try and get your readers to jump from series to series and get used to reading new works from you.


----------



## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

ShaneJeffery said:


> I'd wrap up your current series soon and then establish a new series before working on having a back up series to go with it. Try and get your readers to jump from series to series and get used to reading new works from you.


First series is complete. #13 was titled Hero to the End for a reason. But it left the possibility of a sequel, of which I had 3 books of ideas left over, and a spin off.

Current WIP is a new series, but is the spin off, designed to use a loved character as MC, but going in a completely different direction from the original series. It's also 3rd person instead of first person, which is new for me. A mix of known and new characters, most of whom the known ones were introduced, but not given any depth.

The planned sequel will also be very different from the original, and will also allow new readers to begin there, without needing to read the original series.

The plan at the moment is to finish book 1, then do book 1 of the sequel, then book 1 of something different. Not sure it will work that way yet. If the something different comes together, it may be next. I'll just have to see what happens.


----------



## KeenToWrite (Oct 30, 2015)

Shawna Canon said:


> As soon as someone suggested that people are just too depressed to read because of politics, I immediately wondered if books with a more conservative readership were seeing either no change in sales or a boost. Because if we assume that liberal-leaning people are so distraught that they're not reading anymore, it would logically follow that the other half of the country was happier and therefore reading more.


Both 1984 and The Art of the Deal are hitting bestseller lists at the moment.


----------



## Anarchist (Apr 22, 2015)

RomanceAuthor said:


> Damn, I sound like a crazy person.


No, you don't. You always seem rational and logical.

It's the reason I read every one of your posts.


----------



## Anarchist (Apr 22, 2015)

Tim, a couple of contrarian ideas...

1. replace the new cover for Book 1 with the old cover. I don't remember the old cover, but I seem to remember that it was more consistent with your genre.

2. reconsider your house move. I realize you may be locked into "buying, renovating, and moving," but at least think about your options, even if they seem unappealing. For example, might it be possible to downsize (sell your new home) once you've completed the move? Maybe you'd take a loss, but at least you wouldn't have to worry about the mortgage while getting your book business back on its feet.

Lastly, make a list. There are a lot of good ideas in this thread. But they're jumbled in with random comments and bickering, and thus difficult to manage. Get a piece of paper and write them down in numbered form. That'll help you to focus on them one and a time rather than feeling overwhelmed.

I run multiple businesses and often reach the point where I feel overwhelmed with everything I need to do. I find _written_ lists - not lists maintained online or in Word - invaluable. Plus, I constantly remind myself, "One thing at a time." It's a big stress reliever.


----------



## SC (Jan 6, 2017)

David VanDyke said:


> New cover for your book 1. The current one is not representative of the genre. Look at successful book covers in your genres and imitate them. Even your book 2 and onward covers are better. Then go permafree book 1, 2.99 book 2. Promote the book 1. The book 1 is your sample of tasty pizza. Make sure it's the best pizza sample you can give people.
> 
> Also, you should have long ago gotten paperbacks and audiobooks up. Each takes content you already have and monetizes it further.


I agree about the cover for book 1. I actually really like that cover. Much better than the others. But I'm not a space opera reader. So I figure if it appeals to me, you're not hitting your target audience.

You should definitley put paperbacks up. That shouldn't cost you much more, if anything. Basically you just need to do a paperback cover, which you can either make yourself or, if you used a designer, they should be able to make a paperback cover for you. Audiobooks are a little trickier and potentialy much more expensive, but if you can manage to get a great audiobook produced, that's another way to reach new readers. Some people exclusively read in audio.

And you've said you can't make the first book permafree yet because it's in KU. Okay. But you've got it at $2.99. You could put it at $0.99, which is a much more appealing price for people to take a chance on a new series. I'd suggest trying that.


----------



## JaclynDolamore (Nov 5, 2015)

If Pauline's plan is too much--and it's true, it does take some forethought to replicate that exactly--I would just do 2-3 days free and book Free Booksy and Book Barbarian (they're usually booked way out for fantasy but aren't as bad for sci-fi). Just those two. It should take you an hour at most. You're pretty much just plugging in some info you already have, might have to write a slightly shorter blurb. I know how hard it is to handle this stuff when you're dealing with moving, health problems and money worries--I was in that EXACT position some years ago and truly it was the most stressful time in my entire life by far--but I can guarantee you that taking that time will be less taxing than trying to shove out an entire BOOK, and you have a very advantageous position in that as far as I can tell, you've never used those sites before AND you have a huge series of sell-through to benefit from AND it seems like your sell-through rate is pretty good.


----------



## Used To Be BH (Sep 29, 2016)

Hugs!

I wish I had a brilliant solution to offer, but I don't. I will mention instead a couple of things I've learned about stress.

I'm a worrier by nature, though I try to control the tendency. Enough worrying makes me sick, which I think is true of most people. What I've noticed about myself (and, when I was teaching, overly stressed students) is that the stress impedes progress, which in turn leads to more stress because things don't get done. When the pile of things needing to get done keeps getting bigger, it's easy to give up.

Something that worked for some students in really deep holes and for me as well was deceptively simple: make realistic goals for each day, and make sure you meet them. Meeting goals will tend to reduce stress, which in the long-term will help you heal and enable you to get more done going forward.

Yes, you need to promote at least a little. Obviously, you have written good material that has drawn in readers. The sales you were getting without promotion are far above what most indies get. However, the time comes in the life of every book or series when you need to do something to maintain that momentum. If you pace yourself, you can get a reasonable schedule going without spending a huge amount of time on it.

You also need to write, but there's no point in trying to push yourself beyond what you can reasonably do in your current condition. Figure out how much writing you can realistically do in a day, and make sure you do that much. I see the wisdom in the suggestions about starting a new series as well as releasing something on the old one to give the algorithms a bump, but trying to implement those strategies faster than you are able is a recipe for digger yourself deeper into the hole. (I've not been in your situation, but I have been in situations where I was trying to do more than I realistically could, and the results were never good.)


----------



## JVRudnick (Sep 12, 2014)

@Tim...

I feel for you and as I've always thought that your own writing and my own were similar, I relate to what you're experiencing. Not 'similar' as in content, but that you and I are about even with our first series. My own book #14 in the RIM Confederacy is a the editors--#15 is just about done, #16 is in pre-plotting. 

Why I think that I can 'continue' to write my Series, past what everyone else says is the 'limit' on the numbers--are my fans. I get on average about 2 emails a week saying 'love it--where's the next one?' Reviews come and go but it's been the usual 5 stars time and time again--at least for say the second half of the series as I got better, the fans thought so too.

So, sales. Been there at the high high end and nothing nicer than a 5 figure month, month after month. But yeah, things did slow down a whole bunch about June of this year--page reads I noted went from 25k a day to like 4k a day...but then that's a whole other thread here...

So, what to do? Do what I did. I slowed down in the spring--didn't pub a book for like 3 months I think, and that is what I'm interpreting as the June/16 slowdown....back now at one per month....and as expected and as others here have said, the numbers are back up nicely. 

So, marketing. Dunno. I have more than 40 years of same for business firms like breweries and soap companies and cheese too....but 'swinging' those concepts into book marketing is for the most part, too damn difficult. YMMV of course, and yes I too have been kept out of BB too....but find that a new release and the email to my more than 2k email lists, gets me instant sales. Email still works, is what I mean. 

So....what is the summary of all of this. You're not alone. We're all in this together...but remember this above all...from everything I have seen, read, and understood about sales here--it's the pub schedule that counts for like 90% of your success. Build a great series and then monthly have aliens attack...whatever.....works for me is what I think I'm saying.

Oh--Kindleworlds. I accepted an invite to write a book in that Amazon area--my own Planetary Breach is still a best seller in Jay Allan's Crimson Worlds portfolio. So far, all I can add is that getting "outside" my own worlds is fun! 

Jim


----------



## Amanda M. Lee (Jun 3, 2014)

I agree that multiple series is key. Climbing isn't really my focus any longer. Maintaining is. Don't get me wrong, if I suddenly started making 200K a month, that would be great, but I'm more interested in sticking within a window these days. Now, granted, my window is big. It also depends on what series I'm releasing in under my main name. If it's a full witch book, I hit the high end. If it's my worst-selling series, I hit the low end. I only worry if I don't hit the window and I've been tracking my sales long enough to take seasonal anomalies into account. I know when my books sell and when they don't. I still write the other series even though my witches sell the most because I don't want to be reliant on one series and then be stuck when readers "grow" out of it. Readers eventually grow out of every series so I want a lot of series to be ongoing (and some to be finished). Right now I have 11 series under two names. One series is complete. Another will be complete in August. A new one launches in May. I have numerous series ready to start writing on in standby as other series age out down the road. I think the more entry points to your work that exist, the better. If there's only one entry point things can fall apart quickly.


----------



## Usedtoposthere (Nov 19, 2013)

I do 4-5 books a year and don't market that much. I've had as much as 5 months between books. Don't have a big mailing list. I do well. But I DO have 5 series. I started writing a new series 4 books in, right when the first one hit big. I have 10 novels in series 1 now and release in it about once a year. That series perennially does the best, but even though all the books stand alone and I can promote any one, I don't have anything like the kind of category dominance I had during the first couple years. Things just don't stay the same. That's why I do the other series too. Not to be a one trick pony and to attract different kinds of readers. I do need more books (and German translation on 5 books, and audio on all books) to make the same money I did with far fewer books and no mailing list a couple years ago. It's tougher now. 

From my perspective I'd say new series. I'd also say covers as I have all along. Your old covers were good enough in a past climate. Now they aren't, because others have upped their game. At least for the new series, get genre-appropriate covers. Once you have good covers, marketing will work better. The reason it isn't working now is that the covers aren't attracting your target reader, I'd guess. 

It's harder now. There's more churn and stiffer competition. It's scary and I know it. Personally, I'm moving to a cheaper area so my expenses will be lower and I can happily write what I want without worrying. 

Your genre is huge in audio. You can do ACX through Joe Nobody's company. Just a thought for the future.


----------



## SC (Jan 6, 2017)

So interesting to read people's thoughts about how many books per year and seeing how many everyone is actually doing. My goal is to learn to write a book a month, that would be amazing, but I'll really need to work out a process, since I'm very much a plotter and need to have most of the book figured out before I even start writing. But I have so many ideas, so coming up with a new book to write each month isn't the problem, it's figuring out how. Cool to see that some people are doing it, though.


----------



## Usedtoposthere (Nov 19, 2013)

Writing speed depends partly on length. I write 105-145k books, whereas many in my genre write more like 60-80k. Just depends on your kind of book and your audience. 

I'm only slightly faster than I was for my first book--my first fiction. I used to take 3+ months to think up, write, and edit a book. Now it's more like 2-1/2 months. I can't get faster as I don't have ideas. It takes me a couple weeks after finishing a book--sometimes 3 or 4--to come up with the idea for the next book. Six to eight weeks to write and edit that 105-145k. 

Authors are different. If I wrote different, shorter, less complex books, I wouldn't have the audience I do. Could I have a different audience, and do as well? Mm...doubtful, I'd say. Plus I wouldn't be writing the kinds of books I like to read. 

Different paths. And I really don't think there's "one right way." Certainly, if you can write awesome books at the rate of one a month or more, you have a big advantage. But if they'd be less awesome, you might not find your audience. But yes, churn is a thing.


----------



## LindsayBuroker (Oct 13, 2013)

I agree with the others about getting more series out there. The more Book 1s you have, the more you have to cycle through with the various advertisers. You can be running a sale and plugging a different Book 1 every month. 

And maybe try some trilogies or shorter series next? The trouble with a 10+ book series is that if Book 1 stops selling, then that's kind of it for the whole collection of books. And that's the nature of the business really. There are always new books coming out, so it gets harder and harder to keep an older one selling. Yes, there are some people who manage to keep a series hot and selling year after year, but that's pretty damned rare. 

Paperbacks and audiobooks wouldn't be a bad idea. Since you have a strong sales record, you could approach some agents and see if anyone would help with foreign rights sales (and audiobooks if you don't want to do that yourself). None of that would bring in money tomorrow, but it could provide extra sources of income in the future.

If you have a strong fan base and a mailing list so you can get in touch with them, you could try a Patreon campaign. We've interviewed authors making a couple thousand extra a month that way. 

I'm not sure what to suggest on the mortgage, since you've already taken it on. Roommates for a while? Selling and moving to a cheaper area? Not what you want to hear, but I've always assumed my author income would fluctuate a lot from month to month and that Amazon could pull the rug out from under me at any time, so I've had a policy of waiting until I can buy things with cash and not taking on any personal debt. Knowing you have to come up with the cash for a new car or a house is a huge motivator to write more too.  

Good luck!


----------



## SC (Jan 6, 2017)

LindsayBuroker said:


> Not what you want to hear, but I've always assumed my author income would fluctuate a lot from month to month and that Amazon could pull the rug out from under me at any time, so I've had a policy of waiting until I can buy things with cash and not taking on any personal debt. Knowing you have to come up with the cash for a new car or a house is a huge motivator to write more too.


This is an excellent policy even if you aren't on a fluctuating income, but even more so if you are.


----------



## Patrick Urban (Oct 22, 2016)

A lot of great feedback for you to sort through; it's a nice credit to the writer's cafe community.

My sympathies at the unfortunate confluence of events.

While it won't mitigate the short-term concerns, the recurring advice (from some quite impressive names in indie publishing) to have multiple entry points - multiple series, multiple book #1s - for readers to find you and engage is terrific advice. As your post today indicates, you're of a similar mind and on that track with upcoming works. Best of luck.



KeenToWrite said:


> Both 1984 and The Art of the Deal are hitting bestseller lists at the moment.


I think the above surge reflects two different sides of the coin. The Art of the Deal is an obvious interest of those curious and/or sanguine about the recent change.
1984 is a cautionary tale about socialism.

In any event, I think the prospects of fiction authors are not in any way affected by the larger events alluded to in various posts in this thread. Certainly the OP's concerns are not consequent of those events.

_Edited. Drop me a PM if you have any questions. - Becca_


----------



## CJArcher (Jan 22, 2011)

Tim, I'm an Aussie and use Joe Nobody's company Kemah Bay to get onto ACX. Very easy and professional. I'd advise you to only sink money into audiobooks if you can afford to do so, however.

I agree with the others about multiple series. I have several, most finished and 2 ongoing. I find my older books just don't do as well on Amazon after a while. It doesn't mean they're not good, it's just they seem to have a shelf life there, so maybe books 1-2 in your series are experiencing that. Is it something Amazon does or just that the Amazon audience is tapped out? I don't know. I find my older books need more frequent promos to keep them ranking well, but find this not to be the case for my more recent series. I don't find this ageing book problem so much at the other stores. I've had a permafree book sit at the top of its subcategory for 2 years now at iBooks US with no help from me. Go figure. Good luck!


----------



## 75814 (Mar 12, 2014)

Patrick Urban said:


> 1984 is a cautionary tale about socialism.


That's not true, Orwell was a committed socialist whose vision was a unified, socialist Europe. What he saw in Stalin's Soviet Union was not socialism or communism, but totalitarianism and that's what he was writing against.

_Edited. Drop me a PM if you have any questions. - Becca_


----------



## Becca Mills (Apr 27, 2012)

Folks, we need to move away from the political content, here. It is not permitted on Kboards, and it would be sad for Tim's thread to be locked for this reason.


----------



## C. Gockel (Jan 28, 2014)

> I'm not doing any marketing.


This is your problem right here. Do a free run, you don't even have to do permafree and get Freebooksy, BookBarbarian, eBookDiscovery, GenrePulse ads. Consider making book 2 99-cents just for the duration of the free run.

Create a box set of your first 3 or 4 in series. Release it without fanfare into KU at $9.99, try to get a 99-cent BookBub on it.

You keep saying BookBub hates you, but do you apply every month? It took me over a year to get a BookBub for Archangel Down.

Between the box set and pulsing the first in series down to free, you should have something to advertise 2 out of 3 months. Do so while you work on either another series, or a new entry point to your existing series.


----------



## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

Freebooksy add running Feb 13, using Hero at Large. KDP free days scheduled 12-13 Feb.

Now I feel soooooo jittery! 



LindsayBuroker said:


> you could try a Patreon campaign. We've interviewed authors making a couple thousand extra a month that way.
> 
> I'm not sure what to suggest on the mortgage, since you've already taken it on.


I've never heard of a Patreon campaign. Absolutely clueless as to what this is.

Nothing to be done re the mortgage. Me and 2 other family members came back together to go three-ways in a new house, so we could get something bigger and better than any of us could do alone. We found one in a quiet place with a great view out the back deck to a lake with swans and ducks, where we each get our own areas where we can be independent. Doubled my desk area, but still dont have my desk drawers out of the box yet. My mortgage is modest compared to what it could have been, but still, scary.



JVRudnick said:


> Oh--Kindleworlds. I accepted an invite to write a book in that Amazon area--my own Planetary Breach is still a best seller in Jay Allan's Crimson Worlds portfolio. So far, all I can add is that getting "outside" my own worlds is fun!


No idea what this is either.

But I am moving towards building a universe with the series sequel in which other authors can write books. Its pulling together the plan some of us were talking about a year ago. Once I have the next trilogy out, all the pieces will be in place to make it really huge and diverse. So maybe I need to look at what Kindleworlds is.



C. Gockel said:


> Create a box set of your first 3 or 4 in series. Release it without fanfare into KU at $9.99, try to get a 99-cent BookBub on it.


Done that with the first 2. Its 5.99 and BB didn't even blink rejecting it too at free. I did 2 because the next 3 form a sub-trilogy.



C. Gockel said:


> You keep saying BookBub hates you, but do you apply every month?


Not every month, but its been submitted a dozen times since book 3 took off. Sometimes I leave it several months as I cant handle rejection emails at some times when its due again.

But as far as I can see, BB simply dont like Space Opera, and have no real list for it. Their SF/F readers are obviously not space people. So whoever their person is who checks the submissions, simply rejects SO out of hand.

Back when I was getting their emails, the only SO I saw on them were trad published, or who had a really good author rank in SF/F at the time of submission. As I said before, I stopped getting their emails since there was never anything on them which remotely interested me. And I write what I prefer to read.

I'm not going to hold my breathe trying to get a BB when they hate my genre. I will keep submitting at odd times when the whim takes me, but its a fire and forget missile, and I dont inject any emotional attachment into it anymore. If they ever do give me one, I'll probably have a heart attack.


----------



## PearlEarringLady (Feb 28, 2014)

TimothyEllis said:


> Freebooksy add running Feb 13, using Hero at Large. KDP free days scheduled 12-13 Feb. Now I feel soooooo jittery!


Great! FreeBooksy are fantastic, so all you have to do is sit back and watch that green line shoot up on the graph.  Followed by a nice bump in paid sales.

Also, it's good to know that you have family with you, so you're not on your own. Enjoy that view of the lake - sounds great.


----------



## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

PaulineMRoss said:


> Great! FreeBooksy are fantastic, so all you have to do is sit back and watch that green line shoot up on the graph.  Followed by a nice bump in paid sales.
> Also, it's good to know that you have family with you, so you're not on your own. Enjoy that view of the lake - sounds great.


I'll take your word for it on the green line.

The view of the lake is great. Its not a wide lake here, so houses on the other side, but its a very nice view all the same. Very peaceful. I've never been into sunsets before, but the sunsets here are entrancing. So I tend to stare out the window a bit around now as the light fades.

On the other hand though, I've partially masked the view from my desk, so it doesn't draw my attention when I'm writing.


----------



## Nic (Nov 17, 2013)

Perry Constantine said:


> That's not true, Orwell was a committed socialist whose vision was a unified, socialist Europe. What he saw in Stalin's Soviet Union was not socialism or communism, but totalitarianism and that's what he was writing against.


Thanks, I was about to add exactly this.


----------



## Some Random Guy (Jan 16, 2016)

TimothyEllis said:


> But as far as I can see, BB simply dont like Space Opera, and have no real list for it. Their SF/F readers are obviously not space people. So whoever their person is who checks the submissions, simply rejects SO out of hand.
> 
> Back when I was getting their emails, the only SO I saw on them were trad published, or who had a really good author rank in SF/F at the time of submission. As I said before, I stopped getting their emails since there was never anything on them which remotely interested me. And I write what I prefer to read.
> 
> I'm not going to hold my breathe trying to get a BB when they hate my genre. I will keep submitting at odd times when the whim takes me, but its a fire and forget missile, and I dont inject any emotional attachment into it anymore. If they ever do give me one, I'll probably have a heart attack.


Don't give up. I had the first in one of my space opera series accepted by BB and it ran last week.


----------



## lincolnjcole (Mar 15, 2016)

Patty Jansen said:


> These are all things that have worked well for me, and most cost very little:
> 
> Make book 1 free and give away a [crap]load of books. People will buy the rest.
> 
> ...


Amazing advice! I actually just started discovering things like this recently and it'd really helped me a lot!


----------



## RinG (Mar 12, 2013)

Good luck with Freebooksy, they're one of my favourite promo sites! I bet you'll see some results from that.


----------



## C. Gockel (Jan 28, 2014)

> But as far as I can see, BB simply dont like Space Opera, and have no real list for it. Their SF/F readers are obviously not space people. So whoever their person is who checks the submissions, simply rejects SO out of hand.


I'm not trad pubbed and they took me in December. I would consider my story "Space Opera."

You don't expect to get a BookBub, you expect NOT to get a BookBub ... so there is really no let down when they say no.

ETA: If you don't get a BookBub for you box set or your first in series, you can still participate in group promos, and take advantage of other advertisers. For the box set I'd consider 99-cent ads with BookSends, FKTips, ENT, RobinReads, BookBarbarian, SweetFreeBooks, FussyLibrarian, eBookDiscovery ... I'm sure I'm missing some.


----------



## Patrick Urban (Oct 22, 2016)

TimothyEllis said:


> Freebooksy add running Feb 13, using Hero at Large. KDP free days scheduled 12-13 Feb.
> I've never heard of a Patreon campaign. Absolutely clueless as to what this is.
> Nothing to be done re the mortgage. Me and 2 other family members came back together to go three-ways in a new house, so we could get something bigger and better than any of us could do alone. We found one in a quiet place with a great view out the back deck to a lake with swans and ducks, where we each get our own areas where we can be independent.


Good luck on the promo. Resources allowing, I'd suggest running something each week through different outfits to try and create a sustained upward trend in visibility & readership as defibrillation while you plug away on your new releases.
The view sounds fantastic; definitely my cup of tea.

Patreon is an online answer to the historic old-school patronage of artists by the well-heeled. In its modern iteration, it is the masses who make small contributions of money to further your work.



Perry Constantine said:


> That's not true, Orwell was a committed socialist whose vision was a unified, socialist Europe. What he saw in Stalin's Soviet Union was not socialism or communism, but totalitarianism and that's what he was writing against.





Nic said:


> Thanks, I was about to add exactly this.


I trust that I'm not running afoul of the proscription on politics with this short comment, a comment not on the passing political scene (which I will respectfully eschew), but very specifically on a classic work of literature - literature, after a fashion, being the raison d'etre of this forum.
1984 concerns socialism-cum-totalitarianism. Orwell's 'Ingsoc' (english socialism) being socialism wed to the totalitarian impulse. Yes Orwell pined for "democratic socialism" never quite apprehending that such a beast does not and cannot exist without an inevitable descent into totalitarianism when it intersects human nature. Quite a cautionary tale.


----------



## truc (Apr 2, 2015)

Patrick Urban said:


> Yes Orwell pined for "democratic socialism" never quite apprehending that such a beast does not and cannot exist without an inevitable descent into totalitarianism when it intersects human nature. Quite a cautionary tale.


Not sure that it's relevant to speculate about Orwell's philosophical failings in a thread about declining sales of a space opera in KDP.


----------



## Patrick Urban (Oct 22, 2016)

truc said:


> Not sure that it's relevant to speculate about Orwell's philosophical failings in a thread about declining sales of a space opera in KDP.


Point well taken, Truc.
However, the meat of my comments were kindly meant in the service of the OP.
...It is worth noting that scifi dystopias are quite common today and the concerns and spirit of my comments bear on that genre subset as food for thought.


----------



## Nic (Nov 17, 2013)

Communism and socialism are not the same things at all. "1984" is about totalitarianism as shown via communist USSR, which during Orwell's time was the most important totalitarian political regime. For once Wikipedia has it just as right as every professor and teacher of English literature I ever enjoyed. Go there and have a look. 

Please, don't abuse and retcon Orwell.


----------



## Anarchist (Apr 22, 2015)

Becca Mills said:


> Folks, we need to move away from the political content, here. It is not permitted on Kboards, and it would be sad for Tim's thread to be locked for this reason.


----------



## Nic (Nov 17, 2013)

Since when is correcting objectively faulty data about a classic book "a political discussion"? Not everything which contains political terms actually is a discussion of politics.


----------



## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

The "objectively faulty data" was corrected 17 posts ago.  Let's move on.

Betsy


----------



## Reveries (Feb 7, 2016)

TimothyEllis said:


> Freebooksy add running Feb 13, using Hero at Large. KDP free days scheduled 12-13 Feb.
> 
> Now I feel soooooo jittery!


The 60 day cliff does seem to be hitting early and very hard these days. I'll be watching with interest to see how the Freebooksy ad works out for you. A lot of the free books that are downloaded are never read, but you have a very long series. If even a tiny percentage of people do read the first book and keep going then it could help a lot.

I understand it's an especially nerve-wracking time given the house move and mortgage commitment, so very best of luck!


----------



## Soothesayer (Oct 19, 2012)

FWIW it isn't just fiction that is nosediving into the ocean. My non-fiction books (computers, ironically enough), took a 40% hit at just last month.  There's nothing really convenient to blame it on. Christmas bills? Politics? Weather? It's even got me thinking of putting my three non-fiction books into a boxed set on ACX. NO IDEA if they will sell and no idea if Zon will be cool with it since two of those books are not split-royalty and one is (how does THAT work out?).

Anyway, I went from about $2700 per month to right around $1700 or so for February. People here recommend going permafree. Uh, how am I supposed to do that when I'm in Select?

In light of all of this, I'm about to say screw it and plunk down the three benjamins for Dawson's Facebook course before this gets worse. Amazon's algo changes are just too frequent and volatile to ensure a steady stream of sales.


----------



## amiblackwelder (Mar 19, 2010)

ChrisWard said:


> Hang in there, dude. I release each new book to the sound of crickets. $200 in a month is a good month, and that's after five years. And half of that (at least) is costs. Am I giving up? No damn way. Writing is a long haul career. Keep putting out good new books and keep your nose to the ground looking for new promo opportunities. Got to be in it to win it. Eventually something will click.
> 
> Hugs!


Love your determination.


----------



## Dhewco (Apr 10, 2016)

Am I the only one who sees this thread's header and hears the 'ghost' recordings from the Doctor Who episode 'Silence in the Library'? Yeah, I figured it must be me. 


David


----------



## hunterone (Feb 6, 2013)

Gotta keep pumping out those books. At least a book a month.


----------



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Dhewco said:


> Am I the only one who sees this thread's header and hears the 'ghost' recordings from the Doctor Who episode 'Silence in the Library'? Yeah, I figured it must be me.
> 
> David


NO! You are NOT the only one!


----------



## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

Dhewco said:


> Am I the only one who sees this thread's header and hears the 'ghost' recordings from the Doctor Who episode 'Silence in the Library'? Yeah, I figured it must be me.





Ann in Arlington said:


> NO! You are NOT the only one!


----------



## GeneDoucette (Oct 14, 2014)

1: bundle the early books in the series. I'd say package the first three in a $9.99 box set, and maybe the same for the second three. 

2: Try and get a bookbub on the box set(s). BB likes box sets a lot, and a steeper markdown will make it more attractive.

3: Raise your prices by a $1 for each volume. Yes, really.


----------



## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

GeneDoucette said:


> 1: bundle the early books in the series. I'd say package the first three in a $9.99 box set, and maybe the same for the second three.
> 
> 2: Try and get a bookbub on the box set(s). BB likes box sets a lot, and a steeper markdown will make it more attractive.
> 
> 3: Raise your prices by a $1 for each volume. Yes, really.


1. Books 1 & 2 are already out. Books 3,4&5 are already out. 2nd omnibus is 9.99. I get a small amount of reads on both and an occasional sale. Totally not worth the time and money to do so far. I've put the 2nd paperback and the rest on hold.

2. BB were just as uninterested in the box set as the original book.

3. This I have been wondering about. The last 3 are 4.99. 1 is 2.99. So is 6 but its a novella.

So you think I should be putting 4.99 on all of them now? I'd still leave book 1 at 2.99, 6 at 2.99, and 10 at 3.99 since its shorter. The rest 4.99?

And do it now, so the new prices are in effect before the 13th freeby on 1?

I did increase most prices to 3.99 when I brought out 7. And went to 4.99 with 11.


----------



## RinG (Mar 12, 2013)

To be honest, I don't think a 2 book bundle seems as much of a bargain as a 3 book one. I'd consider redoing the first bundle to be the first 3 books. I know you said that book 1 and 2 go together and 3, 4 & 5 are a trilogy, but if you look at it as giving them 1 and 2m then 3 to convince them to start the next part of the series, it actually kind of works.


----------



## SC (Jan 6, 2017)

Or you could do a bundle of the first 5 books, price it at 9.99, then try for a BookBub discounted to 1.99 or 0.99. If you've already got a dozen or so books in the series and your problem is that no one's reading it, then steeply discounting the first 5 in order to try to get people hooked into the long series doesn't seem to be losing you much. Sometimes people look at such a long series and figure (sometimes pretty accurately) that it takes at least 3 or 4 books before it really hits its stride, so a single book of such a series is barely a taste, and even that you're not giving away at any particular discount.

I don't have personal experience with this myself, other than as a reader and observing what I've seen other authors do. But it seems like your problem is not enough people are getting on board this series. If they're not buying the books right now, then you don't have much to lose in making them available at a discount for people willing to take the chance on the series. Maybe giving them the first 5 for a really good deal will convince them to try it out and hopefully come back for the rest of the series at full price.


----------



## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

Rinelle Grey said:


> To be honest, I don't think a 2 book bundle seems as much of a bargain as a 3 book one. I'd consider redoing the first bundle to be the first 3 books. I know you said that book 1 and 2 go together and 3, 4 & 5 are a trilogy, but if you look at it as giving them 1 and 2m then 3 to convince them to start the next part of the series, it actually kind of works.


Its already done. Modifying it means cover changes, and getting the books reformatted. And I doubt it will make any difference at all. It seems like throwing money into the sea for no real reason.

I'm actually heading the other way at this point. I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion the bundles were a complete waste of time, perhaps done way too early, and I should instead have simply been doing individual paperbacks. Maybe when the series is long dead, I should do a single complete version doorstop.


----------



## Kate. (Oct 7, 2014)

I feel really awful saying this, especially when I was one of the people suggesting you update the covers, but could you try putting the original cover back on the first book? It may not be as pretty, but it signals the genre much better. Modern military sci-fi and space opera are easily identifiable by some combination of space ships, planets, stars and space stations. They don't often have people on the cover unless romance features heavily in the plot. Again, I feel sucky saying this when you've spent money on the new covers, but it's something to try. You could swap it out for a week and compare the performance.


----------



## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

Kate. said:


> I feel really awful saying this, especially when I was one of the people suggesting you update the covers, but could you try putting the original cover back on the first book? It may not be as pretty, but it signals the genre much better. Modern military sci-fi and space opera are easily identifiable by some combination of space ships, planets, stars and space stations. They don't often have people on the cover unless romance features heavily in the plot. Again, I feel sucky saying this when you've spent money on the new covers, but it's something to try. You could swap it out for a week and compare the performance.


The first 2 books needed upgrading, being the weakest covers. The idea for this one was to counterpoint the last 2 covers (12&13), which had the MC shadowed in the background looking like a warrior doing the impossible. The first one has him fresh-faced and innocent.

I was wondering if the ship top left should be bigger and moved to cover his chest area, making the ship much more prominent, and the guy less so. Would that work?

I'm still thinking about what to do with book 2. But I several ships I can use now which I didn't have back then, so even if I make it myself I should be able to do a better cover than it is now. I wasn't going to put a guy on every cover, if anyone was thinking that.


----------



## Douglas Milewski (Jul 4, 2014)

After a January flatline, where nothing worked nohow, February finally shows signs of life. Friday, with only a low hit Amazon ad, books sold. For a brief moment in January, I am convinced that everyone stopped to watch the world fall off a cliff, only to find that the world didn't end.


----------



## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

Douglas Milewski said:


> For a brief moment in January, I am convinced that everyone stopped to watch the world fall off a cliff, only to find that the world didn't end.


That's probably true. But for a lot of us, the rank fall while everyone else was watching the cliff, was disastrous.

It reminds of what happened in retail generally after Sept 11. Where I was, where the word terrorist was only heard on the tv, retail died. 3 months later, and it hadn't picked up, because people's shopping and traveling habits had changed dramatically out of fear, which where I was, was completely irrational. It still happened though.


----------



## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

Interesting that the post by CrazyHorze vanished. I received the email version of it, but it wasn't there when I clicked the link. Self deleted or mod deleted? Since its been quoted, I'll respond to it.

As far as I'm aware, none of my books have ever been in the also-boughts of a bestseller. I was once in the also-boughts of someone here who was having a really good week, which saw some flow through to me, but that was a once-er. My sales have been pretty consistent along a variable line for 18 months, and none of it was because I was on the also-boughts of a bestseller.

No-one retired. I spent a month renovating and then moved house. Its buggered up my writing cycle, and I'm having trouble getting back into it. But I always knew taking a month to move was going to cause me some trouble. Retired? Where did that delusion come from? I'm 2/3 through the next book - how is that retiring?

AMS ads - I tried several. Total waste of time as far as I could see. FB ones did better.



TwistedTales said:


> As for why books fall off a cliff. A long series is always a risk. You have to keep pushing new readers into the pipe, not relying on a dedicated fanbase. With increasing competition, that fanbase will slowly erode. Also, readers will become bored with the series, particularly if there's a new book every 4 - 8 weeks. It burns out their interest faster.


I never aimed for a 13 book series. I planned 6. It just grew a bit. But after 9, I saw a significant drop off. More in terms of no growth, than in reduced income. Book 5 and book 13 were Christmas releases. 5 was a boom, 13 was so-so. Its one reason why I ended the series when I did. It had gone on too long, but I'd written myself into a corner where I simply had to keep going and finish. In the future, I'll not let it happen again.

Actually what burned people out, was 2 books in a row with almost no military aspect to them. It lost me a lot of readers.


----------



## GeneDoucette (Oct 14, 2014)

TimothyEllis said:


> 1. Books 1 & 2 are already out. Books 3,4&5 are already out. 2nd omnibus is 9.99. I get a small amount of reads on both and an occasional sale. Totally not worth the time and money to do so far. I've put the 2nd paperback and the rest on hold.
> 
> 2. BB were just as uninterested in the box set as the original book.
> 
> ...


Some of the 13 books are novellas? That's interesting.

Do the books--including the novellas--have to be read in the right order?

I have a total of ten books set in the universe of my Immortal character. Four of them are full novels that should be read in order. Five of them are novellas that can be read in any order. One is a standalone novella that focuses on a different MC.

I've branded them all differently. The five novellas are called the Immortal Chronicles. The standalone is Immortal Stories. And the four novels are the Immortal novel series. Every novella is a possible entry point for a new reader, and if someone wants to get them all at once, the cheaper option is the anthology of the five.

I'm now wondering if you're lacking enough entry points to the series, and whether that's salvageable with your existing catalog by rebranding it into smaller lumps.

As to pricing, I've standardized my own book pricing, and while I don't think that's a solution for you, I do think it will help, and that you may be leaving some money on the table. I would establish a standard price for novellas and a different standard for novels, regardless of their size. (I mean, within reason. I price ebooks with 110,000 words the same as ebooks with 93,000 words.) Pricing a book earlier in the series lower than books the same approximate size later in the series makes less sense to me in the context of thirteen books. If it was a trilogy, I'd maybe see a $1 markdown for book one, but only maybe. I'm not longer convinced permanent entry-point discount pricing is effective, although this may be a genre-specific observation.

To sum: I don't think you'll see a drop-off in units sold if those $3.99 books went up to $4.99; I think you're leaving 20% on the table there.


----------



## GeneDoucette (Oct 14, 2014)

M R Mortimer said:


> Really? Interesting - I have been wondering about this, as feedback from some readers has been they are surprised I'm 'only" around the $4 price point, because they'd pay more, and usually do, implying they avoid cheaper books. I wasn't sure if that was an aberration. I have wondered if performance improves closer to the trade prices. I know the $4 point is way better for me than the $3/2.99 point. Interestingly my Australian sales seem better at the x.49 prices than the x.99, regardless of the dollars in front.
> 
> Mind you, the January sales slump has hit me too regardless of prices... it's just there is less distance to fall if you are lower on the pile.


I'm in a slightly different sub-genre, but my novels are all priced at $5.99 and I'm doing fine.


----------



## DanaG (Feb 13, 2011)

ShaneJeffery said:


> Tim hasn't had a new release since December. His last release before that was October. The first book in his main series came out in April 2015.
> 
> I don't care how well he was selling, Tim's release schedule is not fast enough in the current climate. You cannot let months go by without releasing. He should have been working on a followup series for readers to transition onto when the books were hot and selling, and then get the new series selling from that, and then make a third series.
> 
> ...


Not necessarily, if writing that fast results in poor quality.

I publish approximately every 5 to 6 weeks, and I am making a very healthy six figure income in romance. I average less than 2000 words a day. I know a LOT of authors who are making excellent money, and none of them are publishing every 2 weeks. Some of them are publishing once a month, some are publishing every few months.

Two weeks is extreme, and it's stressful and hard to keep up, and I think that very few authors can write that fast and maintain quality. A few, like Amanda Lee, can, but most of us can't.

I just don't want to see anyone panicking and thinking they HAVE to publish every two weeks or they won't make money.

As for the rest of what Timothy said - my sales only stay high for about 3 weeks these days, and then they start to drop, but if I consistently publish every 5 or 6 weeks, I'm still making good money. I do hear from just about everyone that the sales peak is a lot shorter these days, so yes, Timothy will probably have to publish a little faster than he currently is if he wants to keep sales up.

Also - when my series start to die down in sales, I move on to new series.

Also - I analyze which books of mine sell the best, and I try to write similar books. I look over my bestselling books, their blurbs, their covers, their plot line, their opening pages...and over time, I've been able to figure out what it was about those books that appealed to my audience more than other books.


----------



## Dhewco (Apr 10, 2016)

A novel every 2 weeks? Impossible for me. If that's the case, I'm never going to succeed. I did 2k yesterday and felt so accomplished. Thankfully, I don't believe that 'novel every 2 wks' is necessary for success. Heh, a novel a year doesn't mean success for me either, lol. So, I shouldn't do that going forward. 

David


----------



## Catherine Lea (Jul 16, 2013)

Graeme Hague said:


> Just stop.
> Clearly, with your recent circumstances, your head is not in the right place to properly assess what's happening.
> Most likely, nothing is happening. Your books are just experiencing a glitch in sales.
> In this kind of situation you _have_ to sit back, put on your business hat and enable your business brain, and look at options.
> ...


 I totally agree with this. I've been through the mill these last couple of years. I lost my disabled daughter in 2014. She was the reason I got up each day, caring for her while she was terminally ill became my whole purpose in life. Because of my experiences, I set my stories around characters with disabilities. When I lost my Girl, a huge hole developed in my life. Everything became hard. Finding paid employment became a nightmare because my life has been about caring for my Girl and I'd never really had the opportunity to develop a career.

Because of this, I depend heavily on any income I get from my books. Lately, I'd gotten really down. I have five books out, and while I'm advertising, I get a few sales a day - not many, but it's enough to pay the advertising.

I began to think I couldn't do it any more. I started to feel like I'm failing in a world that seems full of success stories. But believe me, you and I are not failing. In an ever-changing market, we're doing amazingly well. We hear all kinds of stories about people who crank out books and make millions. I'm happy for them. But for most of us, we're just getting by and writing for the love of it. As Graeme said, step back, give yourself a break, be kind to yourself. And know that sometimes, it's simply not within our control.


----------



## Marti talbott (Apr 19, 2011)

I'm a "one book every three months or so" writer. My sales always drop down in the middle of the second month and for most of the third. It's normal for me, so I don't panic like I used to in the beginning.

Lots of great advice here, but the only way to truly lose is to give up. You just never know when you might be "discovered."


----------



## Zaitsev (Feb 21, 2016)

Catherine Lea said:


> I totally agree with this. I've been through the mill these last couple of years. I lost my disabled daughter in 2014. She was the reason I got up each day, caring for her while she was terminally ill became my whole purpose in life. Because of my experiences, I set my stories around characters with disabilities. When I lost my Girl, a huge hole developed in my life. Everything became hard. Finding paid employment became a nightmare because my life has been about caring for my Girl and I'd never really had the opportunity to develop a career.
> 
> Because of this, I depend heavily on any income I get from my books. Lately, I'd gotten really down. I have five books out, and while I'm advertising, I get a few sales a day - not many, but it's enough to pay the advertising.
> 
> I began to think I couldn't do it any more. I started to feel like I'm failing in a world that seems full of success stories. But believe me, you and I are not failing. In an ever-changing market, we're doing amazingly well. We hear all kinds of stories about people who crank out books and make millions. I'm happy for them. But for most of us, we're just getting by and writing for the love of it. As Graeme said, step back, give yourself a break, be kind to yourself. And know that sometimes, it's simply not within our control.


This post ... so very sorry for what you've been through... Kind of you to reach out to help another writer -- and I agree about the 'being kind'. Good practical advice here from various posters. I wish you and the OP every success for the future.


----------



## manderle (Dec 19, 2015)

Dude, I enjoyed the absolute h#ll out of Hero At Large when I first found your series! 
*
5 books all ready for me to read? H#ll Yeah!*

I don't have any advice, but I have posted on my Kurtherian Gambit Facebook page about your first book FREE right now, I hope you gain many more fans!

You will be back on top in no time,

Michael

https://www.facebook.com/TheKurtherianGambitBooks/


----------



## Steven Kelliher (Jul 12, 2016)

Patty Jansen said:


> These are all things that have worked well for me, and most cost very little:
> 
> Make book 1 free and give away a [crap]load of books. People will buy the rest.
> 
> ...


May I inquire as to your mechanism for giving away said free books? Instafreebie and the like?


----------



## Anarchist (Apr 22, 2015)

manderle said:


> Dude, I enjoyed the absolute h#ll out of Hero At Large when I first found your series!
> *
> 5 books all ready for me to read? H#ll Yeah!*
> 
> ...


<off-topic>

I dug your State of the Hack on 20Books. 

</off-topic>


----------



## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

Freebooksy result: 2020 downloads today. 29 into the new day before the price reverted, although the change to 99c is now in the pipeline. 167 yesterday.

Made it to 88 in the Free Kindle store. 5 in Science fiction, and 10 in SF&F. 

The ranks are obviously good, but I've no idea if 2216 downloads is good for the outlay.

Before anyone comments, I cant do Patty's next promo, since its an outside freeby thing and I'm in select.


----------



## AltMe (May 18, 2015)

Cross posted from my other thread:

Just for anyone interested following here:

The day after the free promo: Interesting. Sales continued on 1 at 99c, small flow through into 2, and a smaller flow into 3.

1 is back below 7000 in rank, which is a huge jump. Also has 5 sub-cats below 100 again. And 3 new 5 star reviews.
2 is back below 10,000, with 1 sub-cat below 100.
3 is back below 14,000.
4 is still out above 28,000, but hasn't really seen any flow through yet.

So very promising. It will be interesting if the flow through continues as people read.


----------



## Salvador Mercer (Jan 1, 2015)

Congrats on some new visibility.  Hope you feel better too.


----------

