Some of you have noticed that I’ve taken the entire Senses Novels series out of Kindle Select (Kindle Unlimited.) This has had the effect of dropping them out of the comfortable ‘top 20’ that one or more of the books was keeping on Amazon. The novels are dropping further and further down the list as the ability to read them without purchasing them individually has vanished.
While the books are now in several other outlets (Barnes and Noble, Kobo, iBooks, etc.) I have yet to see any sales there. Marketing the books is the obvious answer, but that isn’t easy, and the best marketing usually isn’t cheap. I am not the only author that struggles with this. Tens of thousands of new books hit the market every year, so the competition is fierce.
In all of this, I am facing a different kind of problem. Why did I start writing the series in the first place? While the monetary aspect has been nice, and it would be wonderful if I could simply write for a living, that was not my goal. I write because it is something that I need to do.
I am still working on book five of the series, and I apologize that it is taking so long. The only excuse that I have is that I am working hard at my day job as I have been given a great deal more responsibility (no more pay or recognition, just more work.) It is in my nature to try to strive for excellence, so I have concentrated hard on that job, leaving very little time for writing.
I have seen the adage, “It takes money to make money” as truth when it comes to marketing the books. Unfortunately, it also happens that, often, the money is spent with little or no return. At the beginning of last year, the books were doing phenomenally well, but I have used up email lists and fairly well saturated Twitter. So, I am wondering if any of you might have suggestions at this point? Should I even worry about the monetary aspect right now? What about considering pulling my books out of the other venues and going back to Kindle Select? Your opinions matter to me, so please, tell me your thoughts on this.
Also, for those of you who still have not gotten your eBook copy of Synesthesia, it comes off of special pricing tomorrow on Amazon. This is a fantastic deal, the book is normally priced at $3.99 and right now it is only $0.99!
I hope that you are having a wonderful start to the new year!
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