I wrote about the mistake 85% of new authors make and wow, the replies.
A lot of writers are hopeless romantics at their core
Happy Friday,
When I was a kid, my Dad loved going to the auction. They weren’t the sort of auctions where they sell off estate goods from some deceased person or repossessed vehicles, but the sort that had everything from farm implements to dusty old antiques.
Mostly he’d come home empty handed, telling Mom about the crazy prices stuff went for — but sometimes he’d come home with some piece for his tractor or grinning and handing Mom a missing piece from her Dad’s antique depression glass dishes.
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. That’s what they say, but there’s a flip side to that, and it’s this. It sucks to be the person selling something no one wants.
A lot of new authors can relate to that feeling.
Amazon’s CreateSpace published 1.4 million books in 2018
That’s roughly 159 books per hour. Every day of the week, every hour of the day. That’s why most people think “competition” is their problem. Too much competition. Writers love to say that. Their book is failing because there’s too much competition.
It’s not true, of course.
Most books are no one’s competition. 85% of all book published will never sell more than 200 copies. They just sink into oblivion. Thrown on the slush pile by the bald headed robots also known as Amazon’s algorithm, never to be seen again.
Except for odd time the author shares a link on Facebook.
And everyone ignores it. Or feels embarrassed for her.
Yesterday I wrote about why books fail on Amazon and struggling authors crawled out of the woodwork like ants to spilled sugar in the kitchen on a hot summer day. Some emailed instead of leaving public comments. That itself tells a story.
One guy said he has two books that have failed on Amazon.
He said he honestly never “thought about” how to promote or market his books, or even who his reader is, for that matter. Writing and publishing seemed like such formidable obstacles, he figured he’d tackle those first.
It never works that way. As he discovered.
A lot of writers are hopeless romantics at their core.
They might protest that, but their words give them away. They say things like they hope their book will “find it’s wings” or that it’s like their “baby” and it’s scary to set it free in the world. They “hope” it will do well. Cross your fingers and hit publish!
It’s like saying they’re not planning to do that part.
They’ll just hope their book will succeed all by itself.
One of the people who emailed said he hasn’t succeeded yet, but he will remain hopeful. Maybe one of his books will “take off.” Some day.
I’ve worked in marketing my entire adult life and I don’t understand why so many people don’t even think about how to sell something they’ve put so much work into.
I guess it’s probably because they think marketing is something smarmy and self focused. It’s not, at least good marketing isn’t, but the perception remains. I blame that on internet marketing. lol.
If you’re an author, I’d love to know how you’re doing. And if you’ve sold over 200 books, I’d love to know what’s working for you.
More reading…
An Open Letter To The Man Whose First Book Is Dying On Amazon
Real Dating Ads From the 1880s. You Couldn’t Make These Up if You Tried
Clicking the ❤ is a nice way to say you enjoy my writing. Plus? It’s free :)
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Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!
xo,
Linda
In the days before Amazon, millions of books never saw publication. Rejected by publishing house after publishing house. Some resilient souls reworked, rewrote, and polished their work and resubmitted it over and over again until they became J.K. Rowling. Now with on-line publishing, the polishing phase gets glossed over. Like the story about the Analyst working for Henry Kissinger. Assigned to brief HK on the situation on North Korea, the analyst collected the readily available information and submitted the work the HK. It was returned the next day with the note "You can do better than this. HK". The analyst poured it on, determined to show the senior diplomat what they really were made of. Hundreds of new sources of information were added, graphs, charts and polished writing. Submitted to Mr. Kissinger, it was returned the next day with the same note: "You can do better than this. HK". Now rather mad, the analyst turned on the heat, reaching every conceivable resource, polishing and re-writing until the analyst has nothing left to give. The work was finished, bound and ready to deliver. But rather than take the risk of another rejection, the analyst scheduled an appointment to personally deliver the work. In Mr. Kissinger's presence, the analyst presented the bound work. "Mr. Kissinger, you've rejected my work twice, noting that I could do better. Twice you were right, I could do better and with this work I have, but there's no way I can possibly improve upon this!" To which Mr. Kissinger responded: "Thank you, now I will read it."
We can always do just a bit better and without the gatekeepers of Publishers, we lose that perspective.
Does selling 222 books count (lol)? Part of writing a book that is also a topic of past personal trauma is that it is hard to keep talking and writing about it. I learned a lot though. My next book is fiction, thank goodness. Looking forward to reading your marketing book to help me out :)