The Perilous Journey for Sales

And Other Dark Tales

As I write this post, Death in the Cards, 2nd edition is out in the big wide world. Get your copy here on Amazon, hardcover, paperback, or e-book.

Now that my book was published, I had to sell it. That meant using Amazon. I have nothing against any author or publisher selling through Amazon. In the current publishing environment, it is an absolute necessity. Amazon is the place most people go to look for a book to buy, and they have the market cornered with their easy self-publishing process. As a company and as a book-selling option, I’m not the biggest fan, but I understand the requirements.

Psychotoxin Press set the launch date and a schedule for pre-orders. We decided to run a limited edition signed and numbered hardcover promotion with a print-run of twenty-five hardcover books. We created a book plate template which I printed out, signed, and numbered, and then sent back to Christopher. All twenty-five books were to be shipped to the Press as author copies. The pre-orders were to go through the website and he managed the payment system.

We both worked hard with lots of social media posts and website promos, and received pre-orders for twenty hardcover copies. We were both delighted with that number. The paperback and Kindle e-book editions were also available for pre-order, but directly through Amazon.

I don’t even remember how many posts I made on Facebook and BlueSky. I created an author book page on Goodreads. Psychotoxin Press put it up on their websire and made daily posts on their social media pages. We worked hard to put the book out there.

Release day arrived!

I was ecstatic. Everybody was so supportive – friends, family, fellow writers. But I couldn’t stop there. I had to keep up the posting to make sure people didn’t forget about the book. I ordered my own author copies and set up readings and book signings. It was tough – harder work than I anticipated. Or wanted to do! I was a writer. I wanted to write. All the time. But I had to keep pretending I was a business manager, sales person, booking agent, and all those other things I never wanted to have anything to do with.

I will concede that everything I did was necessary and vital to getting my book out there and making people want to buy it. That didn’t mean I had to like it. The more other writers I talked to, the more I realized I wasn’t alone. I didn’t meet one writer who liked the business side of being a published author.

The only good, i.e. fun, part was going to events where other authors were trying to sell their books, just like I was. One would expect there would be a fierce atmosphere of competition. It was exactly the opposite. The camaraderie and the support were incredible. Of course, there was an undercurrent of one-up-manship with the table design – who had the biggest or most attention-getting banner, what kind of free swag was being offered, what did the table display look like, etc. But all of these things were meant to draw potential buyers/readers to the table, not draw them away from somebody else’s. There is a big difference.

I didn’t have a big budget, as most new authors don’t and most of the time never will. I settled for the basics of table design – the book display and a dark cloth background. I did, however, spring for one bit of swag. I had a bookmark printed with a photo of Death in the Cards on one side and Uncovering Norman on the other, and my name, email, and website address on each. They looked pretty cool, and served as a business card as well as a give-away. People really seemed to like them.

Then we hit the proverbial rocks and hard places.

The limited edition hardcovers were supposed to ship from Amazon the beginning of October, about 3 weeks after the book launch. Psychotoxin received only half of the order, thirteen books. When questioned, Amazon cited a problem with the printer and said the remainder would ship within two weeks. Christopher shipped to the first thirteen orders on his list, and then we waited for the rest of the books. And waited. And waited. Amazon kept giving excuses, and promised shipping soon, but it didn’t happen. I had to regularly contact and update those who were still waiting. It was horrible and I was mortified, but there was nothing I could do. I think we finally received the remainder in late December, three months late, and the people with pre-orders finally received them after Christmas.

Then there were the reviews. Another necessary evil. According to all the how-to-sell-your-book gurus, you have to convince your readers to write a review – on Amazon, on Goodreads, on Facebook, any place you can think of. Reviews, whether good or bad, supposedly can influence a potential customer to buy and read your book. Amazon, and probably other sites as well, offer incentives to authors who can garner a staggeringly significant number of reviews. At the very least, an author is expected to strive for those 5-stars.

Psychotoxin Press had an ARC readers team – Advanced Review Copy. These people are supposed to read the book before the release and write reviews in advance of the release date. This is supposed to help with anticipation of the book’s release and with boosting pre-orders. Death in the Cards got two ARC reviews, both with five stars and one with a brief comment. I admit I was disappointed with that turn-out.

So I tried to get a few more reviews after the book’s release. Turning to social media, I posted on my Facebook author page, asking those who had already read Death to write a review. My biggest fans came through, and I got three more reviews posted on Amazon. Then I hit the several Facebook groups I belonged to. I got eight volunteers to read and review the book. I sent each of them a free e-book copy, and asked them to write the review within six weeks.

Yeah, okay. Don’t hold your breath. Not one of them reviewed Death within the time I asked. So I messaged each one with a please-can-you. Every one of them responded and said they would do it right away, except one who said he had two other ARCs to read first and then would get to mine. Two weeks later – crickets! Another round of messages and pleas. Another round of I-will responses. This went on for weeks, with my messages getting more frequent. Maybe others would have given up, but I’m too stubborn. Besides my own personal standard is, if you make a promise, you should keep it!

Of the eight review copies I sent, by the end of November I ended up with three reviews posted both on Goodreads and Amazon by the same three reviewers. Needless to say, I think the review system is very broken. It sucked up a lot of my time and energy, not to mention free book give-aways, for very little result. There have been other readers, people I don’t know, who have chosen to write reviews and I am grateful for their input.  The reviews were positive overall, though I can’t say if they made any difference in sales. There has to be a better way!

What’s next?

But we only just started!