an author asked a Facebook group why his book wasn't selling

 

I'm intrigued by questions like the one posed on a Facebook author forum. A gentleman had self-published a book on Kindle Direct Publishing, then sat back, awaiting the book's arrival on the best seller list. After three weeks, not a single copy had sold. He posted the cover on his Facebook page and expected all of his Facebook friends to rush out and buy a copy and then tell all of their friends how great it was. They didn't.

He turned to the author forum to ask why? The responses to his question were frank, maybe painful answers provided by people who'd written, then actively marketed their books.

The most in-depth response was the person who explained, and I paraphrase: Think of Amazon as a big warehouse superstore and you just put a book on the shelf. It's sitting there with TWO MILLION other books. All of them are equally accessible to any customer. Without a dazzling cover, a wonderful blurb, and promotion, what differentiates your book from the others?

The most down-to-earth advice was: Close your laptop, get your butt out of your chair, and sell the book. Call libraries and bookstores and TALK TO REAL PEOPLE. Tell someone what your book is about and let them hold it while they read the blurb.

In a follow-up, the man posted his book cover and got barraged with comments about his tacky A/I designed cover art and terrible blurb. The author was convinced the cover and blurb represented the essence of his book and he didn't want to hear the was obviously A/I generated and unattractive. The blurb was poorly written and did nothing to draw in a reader.

Sadly, the author's final response was: "I like my cover. I don't like doing promotions. I want to write books, not SELL books." The responses to that were equally sad: "Lower your sales expectations unless you're going to actually market your books."

With 26 years of "selling" books behind me, I've learned the value of talking to people and building a readership. I've done that by signing in bookstores, flower shops, gift shops, and libraries. I've gone to bookstores and sold ONE book in two hours but know I've connected with dozens of people who may have been intrigued and picked up the book later. Two of my most unusual, and successful signing venues have been a bakery and a grocery store. One writer told me he'd sold out his entire stock of books signing outside of a liquor store on New Year's Eve.

The other reality is, very few authors make the New York Times bestsellers list. There are literary millionaires like J.K. Rowling, Stephen King, and John Sandford. Amazon having two million titles available, means there are thousands of us who have day jobs while enjoying an incredibly satisfying life as published authors.

I considered my early books successful if a quarterly royalty check paid for a trip to the Dairy Queen. 

Please check out my most recent release "Anchor Murder" on the BWL Publishing website and help subsidize a trip to Dairy Queen, or help pay for a doughnut and cup of Tim Hortons coffee.

Anchor Murder: Book 18 of Doug Fletcher Mysteries, by Dean L. Hovey — Books We Love Publishing Inc.