Authors: When Your Book "Flatlines"

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bluerose said:
One piece of advice my publisher has always given her authors is this:

Have the next book ready to go before the previous one “flatlines” (to borrow your phrase.)

It’s true: you will often see sales of previous books jump up when a new one is released. The reason is that people who are interested in your current book might not be aware that you have a previous book and, if they like your current offering, will go back and look for any other books you’ve written.

I may have mentioned this before, but if you can interest your local newspaper, diocesan paper, parish newsletter (neighboring parishes as well) in doing an interview or even reviewing your books, you might see an increase in sales.

The problem is that your books might not appeal to a wide audience, so you have to find the specialized niches where you can promote it to the readers who are most likely to purchase them.

I talk them up whenever I can. They are powerful books and I have to say that I am sorry that they aren’t available in print. I know many people who don’t use e-readers that would love your books!
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Wow, thank you. Maybe I should re-think Print on Demand.

Almost nobody puts out Catholic fiction, and I had such a horrible experience with the one publishing house that does (Ignatius Press) that I vowed I’d never go back to them.

As for having the next book ready to go . . . oh, how I wish I had a fourth book, but so far there isn’t one. I’ve prayed and prayed about it, but I guess I’m tapped out, or at least I am until the Heavenly Muse (that would be the Holy Spirit) sees fit to inspire me once more.

But I figure three books isn’t bad considering that I never thought I’d write even one. 🙂

Thanks, as always, for the advice!
 
It’s so important to keep a positive attitude. One day, I happened across a book written by a famous bodybuilder. His first piece of advice was to think like a winner. Of course, it also had all the necessary exercises.

Getting back to writing. Research, even for fiction, takes a lot of time. Research regarding publicity means I go looking on the internet with a positive attitude. I have to start with the positive and ignore the negative. In other words: “I will find the answer.” I know most writers are not aware of the work involved in promotion. Most colleges don’t teach you the “how do I sell/market my book?” part.

For some writers, they self publish. For others, they find a publisher. So, I’ll add one more thing. Get a lawyer to look over any contract or agreement. If the publisher is offering to pay you a certain amount by a certain time, get it in writing. I know this sounds more complicated than self publishing, and it is, but it’s another option.

amazon.com/Christian-Writers-Market-Guide-2015-2016/dp/1404103058

God bless,
Ed
 
I’m reading Amaranth right now. I agree with Bluerose that they will appeal to a smaller audience, although I don’t think limited to Catholics alone but all Christians for sure and perhaps even other faiths that believe in God and the Devil or people just open to the concept. I’m enjoying the book very much, personally, and will leave a review when I’m done with it and will probably post something up on Facebook about it also since I tend to do a little blurb on Facebook about what book I’ve been reading and what I thought of it.
 
AKDee said:
I’m reading Amaranth right now. I agree with Bluerose that they will appeal to a smaller audience, although I don’t think limited to Catholics alone but all Christians for sure and perhaps even other faiths that believe in God and the Devil or people just open to the concept. I’m enjoying the book very much, personally, and will leave a review when I’m done with it and will probably post something up on Facebook about it also since I tend to do a little blurb on Facebook about what book I’ve been reading and what I thought of it.
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Thank you, and I’ll keep my fingers crossed that you like all of the book.
 
edwest2 said:
It’s so important to keep a positive attitude. One day, I happened across a book written by a famous bodybuilder. His first piece of advice was to think like a winner. Of course, it also had all the necessary exercises.

Getting back to writing. Research, even for fiction, takes a lot of time. Research regarding publicity means I go looking on the internet with a positive attitude. I have to start with the positive and ignore the negative. In other words: “I will find the answer.” I know most writers are not aware of the work involved in promotion. Most colleges don’t teach you the “how do I sell/market my book?” part.

For some writers, they self publish. For others, they find a publisher. So, I’ll add one more thing. Get a lawyer to look over any contract or agreement. If the publisher is offering to pay you a certain amount by a certain time, get it in writing. I know this sounds more complicated than self publishing, and it is, but it’s another option.

amazon.com/Christian-Writers-Market-Guide-2015-2016/dp/1404103058

God bless,
Ed
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Thank you. I’ll consider this.
 
I finished Amaranth this evening- I enjoyed it very much. I’m looking forward to reading your other two novels. I’m glad I stumbled onto this thread, really, because I also found your blog which I’ve found to be quite entertaining as well.
 
Kay_Cee said:
Actually, Amazon will do an “on demand” printing, but it costs the reader quite a bit, something like 12 times the Kindle price. (Any time you see that a book is published by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, that’s what it is.) A friend who is also an author has been encouraging me to go that route, but I wanted to keep the price down.

If I get a number of them published that way myself, I would be stuck with any I couldn’t personally sell. I don’t mind not making much money on this (my net profit per book is usually 21¢, and that gets donated to charity). However, I really don’t want to end up having this cost me after I’ve already invested so many years in the writing process.

Does anybody here have any experience with CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform? If so, how did it go?
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Hi, I enjoyed both of your books that I read, and think I reviewed one – will have to check.
But your information on Createsspace is incorrect.
I published 4 of mine on Createspace, and they sell for about $8 each, which is not much for a physical book. You don’t have to buy a bunch of them, you can just order as many as you want – I think I have 3 or 4 copies of each sitting around.
It’s not the same as POD, which costs a fortune. I published a book in 2003 with iUniverse and it cost about $1000, and the book itself costs $24. I plan to publish it on Kindle one day.
But Createspace basically costs nothing, you can do it yourself. Or pay someone $25 or $50 to help you with it.
The books are excellent, they look like trade paperbacks. And the inside of course depends on how well you format them, what font you choose, etc but you can find people to help with that also.
My son who’s a graphic artist did the covers for 3 of them, and for Shadowcat I splurged and bought a cover for $80.
It’s always fun to have a real book to show people.
And as Ed said, if one person is touched by your book. it’s worth the effort. We are called to be faithful, not necessarily successful. .

.
 
Some thoughts from a fellow author of a Catholic novel (THE GENTLE TRADITIONALIST - see my signature below for details).

I think 474 is excellent for the circumstances you described. My own book has sold maybe 2000 in the last 9 months - BUT I got published by Angelico Press and their publicity skills are remarkable.

Without them, I am sure I would be struggling for 400+! Self-publishing seems a very tough way to go if you want significant sales in a world hostile to Catholicism.

Although I owe most of my success to Angelico Press, I do have two or three tips.

Most importantly, there is an absolutely excellent resource book called PLUG YOUR BOOK by Steve Weber. You can find it on Amazon - worth every penny …

Second, I think having an extensive website has helped me, along with active engagement on Pinterest.

The size of my site plus my regularly pinning graphics from my site means I get a decent amount of traffic from both Google search and Pinterest.

I also have the first chapter of my book online (here corjesusacratissimum.org/2015/11/the-gentle-traditionalist-chapter-one/)

And in addition to using pins, I have also used Facebook groups to promote that first chapter. I do find that people surf to that chapter, get hooked and buy the book.

Again, Steve Weber has many more good ideas. Do check him out, if you haven’t already.
 
Viki63 said:
Hi, I enjoyed both of your books that I read, and think I reviewed one – will have to check.
But your information on Createsspace is incorrect.
I published 4 of mine on Createspace, and they sell for about $8 each, which is not much for a physical book. You don’t have to buy a bunch of them, you can just order as many as you want – I think I have 3 or 4 copies of each sitting around.
It’s not the same as POD, which costs a fortune. I published a book in 2003 with iUniverse and it cost about $1000, and the book itself costs $24. I plan to publish it on Kindle one day.
But Createspace basically costs nothing, you can do it yourself. Or pay someone $25 or $50 to help you with it.
The books are excellent, they look like trade paperbacks. And the inside of course depends on how well you format them, what font you choose, etc but you can find people to help with that also.
My son who’s a graphic artist did the covers for 3 of them, and for Shadowcat I splurged and bought a cover for $80.
It’s always fun to have a real book to show people.
And as Ed said, if one person is touched by your book. it’s worth the effort. We are called to be faithful, not necessarily successful. .

.
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Thank you so much. I will check into this.
 
Roger_Buck said:
Some thoughts from a fellow author of a Catholic novel (THE GENTLE TRADITIONALIST - see my signature below for details).

I think 474 is excellent for the circumstances you described. My own book has sold maybe 2000 in the last 9 months - BUT I got published by Angelico Press and their publicity skills are remarkable.

Without them, I am sure I would be struggling for 400+! Self-publishing seems a very tough way to go if you want significant sales in a world hostile to Catholicism.

Although I owe most of my success to Angelico Press, I do have two or three tips.

Most importantly, there is an absolutely excellent resource book called PLUG YOUR BOOK by Steve Weber. You can find it on Amazon - worth every penny …

Second, I think having an extensive website has helped me, along with active engagement on Pinterest.

The size of my site plus my regularly pinning graphics from my site means I get a decent amount of traffic from both Google search and Pinterest.

I also have the first chapter of my book online (here corjesusacratissimum.org/2015/11/the-gentle-traditionalist-chapter-one/)

And in addition to using pins, I have also used Facebook groups to promote that first chapter. I do find that people surf to that chapter, get hooked and buy the book.

Again, Steve Weber has many more good ideas. Do check him out, if you haven’t already.
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You just gave me a terrific idea: why not put the prologue to my books on my blog? Honestly, that had never occurred to me. I instead mentioned them when I was having a free book promotion.

Thanks for the idea!!! 🙂
 
I hope that you do get to publish your books in paper format! I don’t have a Kindle but I read the summaries of your books, and they sound like something I’d be interested in reading. Maybe others are in the same boat too. I think giving a prologue of the book on your blog is a good idea too, also using social media if you have it 🙂 God bless you!
 
Monica4316 said:
I hope that you do get to publish your books in paper format! I don’t have a Kindle but I read the summaries of your books, and they sound like something I’d be interested in reading. Maybe others are in the same boat too. I think giving a prologue of the book on your blog is a good idea too, also using social media if you have it 🙂 God bless you!
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Thank you. In case you didn’t know, you can download Kindle onto your computer for free. That’s how I had my first Kindle until my daughters bought me a hand-held one.

You can find out about it here:

amazon.com/Amazon-Digital-Services-LLC-Download/dp/B00UB76290
 
Kay_Cee said:
You just gave me a terrific idea: why not put the prologue to my books on my blog? Honestly, that had never occurred to me. I instead mentioned them when I was having a free book promotion.

Thanks for the idea!!! 🙂
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Happy to help. May it work for you as it has for me. 🙂
 
AKDee said:
I finished Amaranth this evening- I enjoyed it very much. I’m looking forward to reading your other two novels. I’m glad I stumbled onto this thread, really, because I also found your blog which I’ve found to be quite entertaining as well.
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So glad you’re enjoying all of it. It makes the time and effort put into it worthwhile. 🙂
 
Okay, I thought this was a good idea, but it doesn’t seem to be working so well.
Kay_Cee said:
I’ve published the prologue to my novel Nearer the Dawn on my blog: reflections911.wordpress.com/2016/08/27/nearer-the-dawn

I’ve included a link to a review given on Catholic Fiction.net, in case anyone is interested.
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I also published a notice about this on the Association of Catholic Women Bloggers site.

Number of people who have accessed this post on my blog: 0. 😦

Yes, I know it’s only been a day. I’ll give it some more time.
 
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