I realized today that it’s exactly one year since I released my debut novel Force of Corruption. It certainly has been one hell of a year. I have three novels out now and three novellas or short stories. I literally just finished my fourth novel today. Vile also completes the duet and a half, Violet’s Tales. I still have a lot of work to do on Vile so it will be a few months before it’s released, I’m tweaking it and then it will go to my editor. After that proofreading and then formatting, before it’s ready for ARC readers. I’m excited to have it finished.
With it being the one-year anniversary of my debut, I found some interesting stats on Amazon KDP and as you can see in the graphic with this blog, I’ve sold almost 1800 units of all my books combined. Of course this is only on Amazon. I’ve had sales on my website, Ingram Spark, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo. Even though I never put my books on Target, Apple, or Walmart, they’re for sale there too. I’m pretty sure I’ve sold over 2,000 units of my books when you add all of the distributors together. That’s amazing to me.
When I started this journey, I wasn’t really planning on making many sales. I figured I would post a few times about my first book and my friends and family would buy them, and maybe a few would accidentally fall into the hands of some strangers, but I never thought I would be here. Six books out and a seventh in the works. It’s not even the only one coming out this year, I have another novella and a third book in the Forces of Nature Series that will be out before the end of 2025. I’m also planning a new series of motorcycle club books based on a character from Force Majeure. The ideas never stop, thankfully.
If I stay healthy enough to stay on track, on this anniversary next year I may have ten books released. It’s a shocking reality compared to how I began, on a whim and a prayer. My best friend says she’s so proud of me and she brags about her author best friend all the time. I’m glad she thinks it’s cool. My kids are very proud of me too and my husband is as shocked as me. Let’s just say I’m a hippie at heart with a free spirit and a mistrust of authority, I don’t usually stick with things this long. He’s pleasantly surprised and keeps hoping I'll sell a bunch of books, or someone will want to make a movie out of one of them. But I’m realistic and I think what I’ve been able to pull together is pretty freaking amazing.
You never know what will happen until you try, I’m pretty happy with this experiment. I’ve met some lovely people who are fellow authors and some active readers who have been so kind. I love chatting with the book community, it’s been a love for my whole life. My years working in the library brought me closer to books, but this is a whole new angle and I’m enjoying all of it. Well, the marketing is hard, but the rest is great.
I have a hard time like most indie authors talking about my books all the time, but it’s part of the job and if I want to keep the job, I need to embrace all the things it entails. I try to post something every day but when I get sick or have a bunch of appointments, I tend to let it slip. Which is something I’m working on, I need to make more effort to engage with my readers, so they know I’m here. That’s the thing about being an author, you can write a great book, but if nobody knows it exists, you’ll never sell any of them.
Yes, I wrote them for me, but I want readers to enjoy them. If they don’t know they exist, they won’t read them. It’s a tree falling in the woods type of problem. If you write a book and nobody reads it, does it exist? If you write a book and nobody knows it exists, then nobody reads it and you lose momentum because what’s the point if nobody reads it? But then there’s a whole new set of problems, if people read it there’s always a chance, they could leave a bad review and if it tanks the book even when people find it, they won’t read it. On the other end of the spectrum what if you write an amazing book and everyone loves it but then someone gets jealous of your success and does their best to trash your ratings and your reputation.
I suppose any time you deal with the public you could encounter bad actors and find yourself in a no-win situation. An author just posted the other day about a bad review she got, it was mean spirited and really hurt her feelings. She vented about it on a private forum and didn’t name anyone, but some of her readers took it upon themselves to track down this reviewer and they went on the attack. This caused the reviewer to attack the author which upset her fans more and around and around it went. Apparently, when the dust settled, her book had a rating of two stars and her pen name has been completely trashed. She was distraught and ready to quit, and maybe she will.
It's a horrible situation. She can start over with a new pen name, but that’s a big undertaking after she already built a fan base. When I think about it, I’d probably quit too, but it would make me miserable. But that’s the thing, any time you put yourself out there you are open for possible attacks. I personally do not discuss bad reviews, I have spoken on my blog about some frustrating situations, especially when an ARC reader trashed me and my book. But I won’t make a post on my social media about a review unless it’s a good one. It just seems like a bad idea, plus I get over things fairly quickly. Honestly, the thing that bugged me most were the spoilers in the review, I don’t mind if someone doesn’t like my book, it just wasn’t for them. But I understand why this author was so upset, the reviewer went out of their way to say really mean and hurtful things in their review. That’s uncalled for, but at that point, to me it’s obviously someone with some issues and it’s best to leave it be.
I know authors who protest every negative review they get and if that works for them, more power to them. For me, I can’t let a negative review bother me that much, it just ruins my day and it’s a part of being an author why let it take up my time and make me unhappy? But my editor has told me I take criticism very well, so I may be abnormal. Ah, let’s face it, I’m pretty sure I’m abnormal so no surprise there.
I’m getting very excited about the Dark Mode Stuff Your Kindle event; it’s going to be bigger than last time and last time was huge! I’m really looking forward to it. I also have an interview this week on a podcast. It’s Central Valley Talk, and the host is Mike Briggs he does a weekly segment on authors and their books, Briggs on Books. I hope it’ll be fun. It’s Tuesday, at 2:30pm, they’ll give me a copy to post, and they’ll promote it for a month which will take me to the SYK event on December 27th. I'll put the link at the end of this blog. I’ll include a link for my interview in the next blog. I’m also doing an author takeover party December 28th on Books for Boos on Facebook which holds charity events for homeless people and sick animals, so far. I’m a huge advocate for charities for kids, animals, and homeless folks so I’m happy to donate my books for these charities. I'll be doing a giveaway for the party!
I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family and friends. We don’t celebrate until Saturday because our daughter goes to her in-laws every year. It’s getting easier to deal with because there are some perks to having it Saturday. For one, more people are available because they already had their family celebration, so we get friends to show up which is fun. Also, if you need something for cooking, the stores are open so it’s easy to run and pick up the cloves you forgot. I can even pick up Thanksgiving items on clearance Black Friday and use them Saturday. Of course, actual Thanksgiving is a little boring with just me and my husband or maybe our son if he’s around, but we watch movies and play games to pass the time. I made the cranberry sauce today and worked on my book so that was something.
As always, thanks for reading and enjoy your long weekend!
Stuff Your Kindle 12/27 https://www.darkmodesyk.com
Free book with newsletter subscription https://www.enchantingauthor.com
Books for Boos author takeover 12/28 https://www.facebook.com/share/g/BGFqoiijsQFfZqBX/?mibextid=K35XfP