For
many the joy of being an author begins when they hold their first published book.
At least that’s the way it was in the 20th Century!
21st
Century authors, if published in E-book format only must be satisfied with
seeing their words on a screen of some sort…whether Kindle, Nook, a Tablet, or
a computer, there can be a feeling of letdown. So what’s an aspiring ‘wordsmith’
to do once they’ve made the leap into the publishing milieu?
While
some published in digital format maybe happy to let things progress as they
would, those Indie Authors, like me, were gifted through Amazon, Smashwords,
and I assume other online E-book publishers the ability to see what was happening
as far as their book sales were concerned.
It
began simply enough this desire of mine to see what was going on…then seeing
sales, I…well to state it plainly I wanted to learn what was necessary so
others knew of my book(s). And this, I am certain, is what the online publishers
intended.
Having
been published, terminated my contract, and self-published, I was eager to dive
in, and dive in I did. Along the way I discovered that I don’t know much and
felt blessed when other Indie Authors befriended me and shared what they had
learned.
So
I’m writing this blog to pass along what I know as well as the reality that
being in the Top 100 Book Category on Amazon or any other booksellers doesn’t mean anything
if your books isn’t … I’m sure you can fill in the dots!
Then
again there are those times when Amazon’s words don’t apply, so let’s do what
the bookstores do and use those words that ‘The Book Industry Study Group’ has
accumulated and use the tag words libraries do, which you’ll find here: http://bit.ly/1yYrk1b
Though
both sites have what you’ll need neither of them is easy to work with.
Furthermore, though the words you use may be best, that does not insure sales. Therefore,
I suggest you look upon this as an experiment.
I
say this because having finally gotten (I thought) all of my ducks in a row, I changed ‘No
Other Choice: The Naomi Chronicles, Book One’ categories from Fiction, Christian, Romance since Naomi isn't a believer yet to the category
of inspirational spirituality. Overnight the book was listed in the top 100
sellers in ‘Kindle > Religion > Spiritual Inspiration > Women’s Inspirational
> Family > Fiction’ and the book didn’t sell! NOT AT ALL!
Where
before, I had seen sales growing, now there were none! The good news for this
Indie Author is that I could try again. So if you’re and Indie Author whose work
isn’t selling, you can do the one thing an author with a contract cannot do and
that is reboot by choosing different categories, or…
Do
as I did and put your book back in the category you choose before, which is where
I believe God wanted it to be. And if you’re as blessed as I fell now, you’ll
know the journey was worthwhile for your book will be selling again.
I think it oddly affirming that my life work, both with founding LAMB Ministries and all this ongoing Christian Lay-Counseling Recovery Program for Women Suffering from Trauma and Abuse entails, and as an author who writes about ‘CHOICES’, how they affect us
and what happens when we do or don’t take control, for here again I’ve written about that.
