Copies Sold

 

I published "Boom!" on November 1 and in checking my sales today, I found that I've sold one! Of course, that one sale was me. I've never figured out if there's a way for an author to download her own books, so I bought a copy so I'd have it on my Kindle. 

Well, it was to be expected. I've done no promotion. (Where does one promote a book of essays? My usual book promotion sites don't even have a category for essays.) I have a link in my Twitter bio, but nobody clicks on those, and my subject is kind of a niche. I stopped using Facebook because...well, it's annoying and the only people I was interacting with were other authors. Instagram is a fine site for pushing cosmetics and lacy underthings, but not so great for selling books.  

I don't know what I was expecting. Okay, if I'm completely honest, I was expecting that like-minded folks of a certain age would find my book on Amazon and would be intrigued enough to give it a shot. But people like me obviously don't browse the book selections on Amazon. I'm not sure if anybody does. People probably hear about a book via word of mouth and search specifically for that book.  

Maybe I should make it free...

And -- I said I wasn't going to do it, but I bought a domain for my (new) pen name. I tried connecting it to the website I created on Blogger (as I've done many times in the past) and it refuses to work. (Good thing I didn't choose to auto-renew my domain.) I've now contacted GoDaddy three times for help and all three times the tech person has assured me they "fixed it", but it's now hopeless. I've run out of things to try. And what the hell does it matter? If nobody (but me) buys the book, nobody (but me) will see my website listed in the author bio section. I invested a medium amount of work into creating a decent site and it's unusable. 

At this rate, I'm going to be forced to go back and write fiction! And I honestly don't want to. All the stories I've written have morphed into one. I barely remember my main characters' names, much less the plots I contrived on the fly. But I need something to do. Maybe I should write a children's book. (Know any good illustrators?)

At some point a writer has to face reality. In my case, nobody's buying what I'm selling. 

(sigh)

I'll sort it out. Maybe I should just become an asshole and plaster my latest book all over the web. But I can't do that. That's why I write under a pen name -- I can separate Fake Me from Real Me. I can't deal with negativity. I heap enough negativity on myself. I don't need some stranger doing it. 

Anyway, stay tuned. I might just come up with a good idea, one that will sell.

Someday.