Weird Sales Report

I rarely view my KDP sales report, because there's nothing much to see, but when I run promos, I feel obligated to find out if they worked or didn't. When I pulled it up today, I found that I'd made six sales yesterday, and thought, oh, okay; not great, but at least it's something. Then I clicked out. But just to verify that all six were for Inn Dreams, I went back. It turns out, for whatever bizarre reason, I also sold one copy of New Kaitlyn and one of Whispers in the Dark.

Why?? It makes no sense. I haven't promoted New Kaitlyn for at least half a year, and I never, ever promoted Whispers in the Dark (and if you read this blog, you know why). I can't figure out what would drive anyone to pick those two books. Maybe it was one of my ARC readers, who was curious about other books in my catalog, for some reason. OR it was the result of one of my dumb promo site author interviews. All I know is, whoever chose Whispers in the Dark will not become my devoted fan. I probably should have never put it out there.

Pivoting back to Inn Dreams, I have a review (one review) on BookSprouts, they tell me. I won't look at it. My two Goodreads reviews have not been quote-worthy. I like to add a little blurb from a review under each book on my website (if the book has any), and I struggled to even isolate a short phrase this time. The reviewers were nice enough to award me four stars, but their text didn't exactly match the ratings. 

My BookBub ad results couldn't have been more horrendous. For the two days the ad ran, my book received zero clicks. I hope I come back and read this post the next time I'm tempted to use the site again. My downfall is that people keep saying the place is the absolute BEST, and I rationalize that if I just "do it better" ~ better targeting, better comps ~ I, too, will reap the promised rewards. Everyone can't be wrong, can they? 

In reality, I'm sort of glad the promo blitz has almost run its course. I tried. My newsletter goes out today, inside which I try to nudge people to leave reviews. Why, I don't know. I'd never read them anyway. But dang, I estimate I now have about a hundred ARC readers who've either not read Inn Dreams or hated it. I may have to halt my Voracious Readers Only membership, because while its reader reach is prolific, I'm not deriving any benefit from it.

LibraryThing has given me the go-ahead on my giveaway, which I guess starts today. 

That's my up-to-the-minute recap. I'll now go bury my head under my pillow, appalled that anyone bought Whispers in the Dark.