Not a Runaway Bestseller

I knew it wouldn't happen, but there's always that little spark of hope delusion. One morning I would pull up my sales report and find out that my novel had taken off. I had no plan as to how that would happen; just miraculously, I guess.

I've invested far too much in an illusion, but I had to at least try. I had to expend some effort. With no marketing my book would sit there on Amazon's shelf, lonely; an orphan. It's not that I don't understand the game ~ discount your book, or better yet, make it free, and your sales report will be overflowing. Except a brand new release deserves to be more than a throwaway freebie. Did I really pour my heart into this novel just to say, "Ehh. It's not worth anything"? I'm not a romance author who can pump out two novels a week. All told, Running From Herself took about a year just to write the first draft. And it's not paint-by-numbers. It's a full-bodied story.

Regardless, I've only managed to sell three copies. Don't get me wrong; three is better than zero, and I've "only" run four promos so far. But Book Raid was my biggie, and now it's done. (I have a very firm suspicion that my three sales came from them.) That means I can stop holding my breath. I've gotten all I'm going to get. 

My takeaway from marketing is that it produces no more than no marketing. As an example, I never marketed Find My Way Home at all and I still sold eight copies. I could buy the most expensive promos out there and still do worse than if I'd bought none. I could say that's a good lesson for the future, except there is no future, which is the primary reason I went as far as I could with promoting this book. 

I've got eight more promos to go, and the majority of them are minor players in the marketing game. After this week, I'll shelve my dream and move on.

I doubt that I'll ever make this novel free. What does that get me? Freebie hogs who load up their Kindles with a hundred free books, but never read them? No, I want to be read. It's either be read or nothing.