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How To Deal When You Experience Low Book Sales

by | Jan 6, 2017

Today, we’re taking a look at the numbers again. I finally got my Q3 sales report; that’s for the months of July, August and September.

To be honest, my book sales numbers are pretty terrible this quarter. I’m really embarrassed by them, to the point where I considered not even providing specific numbers in this post.

But that is not what we agreed to, and it would not be in line with the frank, no-holds-barred look at publishing for the debut author that I promised you.

So here goes. Please have mercy on me.

Over the three months of Q3, I sold 40 copies of my novel.

low book sales

Thank you, Buffy. My thoughts exactly.

What the heck happened?

These months were decidedly my most sluggish ones, which resulted in some low book sales.

In July, I had no promotion activities planned, as I was still naïve enough to think I could make a go of sales from online outreach alone.

Nope. Don’t do that.

I was also still in the throes of drafting the novella that I am now giving away for free to build my email list, so I did not even have the strongest weapon in my online arsenal yet.

Goodness, July feels like a lifetime ago—I can’t believe I was so inactive for an entire month. It’s been a sharp learning curve this year!

In August, I at least got myself to the Writer’s Digest Conference, but that offered little in the way of sales opportunities. Perhaps another writers’ conference might have offered more help? (The Write Life has a list of best writer conferences.)

Thankfully, by September I had wised up quite a bit. I organized a panel of writers for my local comic con, and was able to negotiate free vendor tables for all the participating writers in trade.

So I got some extra book sales out of it, and a lot of new email subscribers.

I also met some great authors, which led to more opportunities in later months.

Also at the end of September, I finally released my free novella to create a sales funnel for my email list. Since then, I’ve had 205 novella downloads and 321 new email subscribers.

On top of a pretty measly sales effort on my part, I had completely lost the momentum from my launch at this point, and my publisher did not offer any marketing support at this stage.

What I’m doing now to address low book sales

Because of the delay in these reports, I am happy to be able to say that I have learned a lot in time since the months reflected in this report.

A few other good things have happened that have helped improve my situation, too, like winning a big award.

All the same, this quarterly report was a real kick in the pants to keep working at getting better.

Events have served me well, and I have a number lined up for 2017, but there are only so many places I can be.

For long-term growth, I need a stronger online sales funnel.

So I’ve got some big plans in the works to reach some goals. Among them:

  • Identify and reach out to top Amazon reviewers to get my reviews to 50+
  • Start a street team that can extend my reach
  • Give a deals website a try, such as eReader News
  • Experiment with my new subscriber email automation to improve book purchases
  • Write more books (two more in 2017, to be exact)

The Write Life has teamed up with Self-Publishing School to create this presentation, “How to Write & Publish Your Book in 90 Days.” In it, you’ll learn how to finish your book in just 30 minutes per day. To sign up for this free training, click here.

Book sales ebb and flow

Book sales are not something that chug along at a steady, predictable pace.

They come with ebbs and flows that are inevitable to the sales cycle. When you hit the ebbs, hang in there.

These ebbs are also a great time to reassess. There is a lot you can do to building momentum and keep sales from getting too sad.

My best advice on this is to watch what other authors are doing, and experiment constantly to see what gains traction. Then, just look ahead to that next sales report or performance assessment.

Check out this article from Self-Publishing School on how they recommend addressing low book sales.

How do you prevent book sales from dropping?

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