As the prayer goes, I have the wisdom to know the difference between things I can change and things I can't. I can stop myself from feeling bad about all things publishing-related, like sales and reviews simply by remaining ignorant of them.
There are online places I now refuse to go to, Goodreads primarily. I don't know if it's just easier to post reviews on Goodreads than it is on Amazon; I do know that one must be at least an occasional buyer from Amazon in order to be granted the opportunity. (Damn, I probably spend more than the fifty-dollar yearly minimum in a week.) Goodreads is just too easy. And it's mean. I posted a whole rant about the site a while back, so I'm not going to regurgitate it now, but the place certainly gives off a mean vibe. So, I just don't visit it anymore. And the best part is, now I never even think to do so. I don't care if any of my books have new reviews posted, good or bad. I've compiled enough good ones to post on my website, and that's their only use to me anyway.
As for sales, last I checked I'd certainly hit a dry spell, not that I ever had a "wet" spell to begin with. And even if I've managed to move one additional unit, that thirty-five cents isn't worth the time it would take to pull up my sales page. Hooray for me that I'm not publishing books for the money!
Before I hit on the LibraryThing giveaway possibility, I'd always considered the place to be really nerdy. An acquaintance had urged me to join many years ago, and I took one look at the place and asked, why? If anyone claims there is an uglier site, prove it. I suppose they designed it that way purposely, to signal that they are for "serious" readers only, but apparently only nerds don't understand the value of an inviting presentation. But when I got serious about marketing, I tried a giveaway for Lies and Love, offering 25 free books, which only resulted in thirteen winners, and only six of those even chose to receive a download. Inn Dreams did even worse ~ four winners. I can't imagine why I'd ever visit LibraryThing again.
I have no need to pull up my Amazon Author Central page. Its only real purpose is its link to reviews, and I don't want to see them.
Email-wise, I still get marketing messages from various sites, but I've unsubscribed from most; some emails I simply delete unread. One or two of the places sends links to articles that I sometimes peruse, so until they become annoying I'll allow them to populate my inbox. I've crossed marketing off my to-do list, so whatever "great deals" these places offer mean nothing to me, plus they're wildly misleading to begin with.
All this is definitely a time-saver. And as an extra bonus, I won't be thrust into the pits of despair by reading a bad review.
I just don't care about these things anymore.
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