Does anybody else struggle with depression on days when you have no sales? As time has passed, when I hit of day of no sales, I get so depressed that it's hard to even have faith in my journey as a writer.
TOTES. August 20 was my worst day in a month, and I was all, "Welp! It's been fun! Time to get a name tag and a paper hat!"Honeybun said:Does anybody else struggle with depression on days when you have no sales? As time has passed, when I hit of day of no sales, I get so depressed that it's hard to even have faith in my journey as a writer.
Thank you so much. *big, big hug* You said just the right things. THANK YOU and a huge, huge hug!!!!JenEllision said:Chin up! Just because you didn't reach a reader on ONE day doesn't make you anything less of a writer. Think of other sales you've made-- people that you don't even know-- reading your book.
I admit logging in and seeing a no sales day is always a bummer. But try to let it drive you TO your keyboard rather than away from it. The more books you have out, the more you increase your likelihood of sales every day.
*hugs* That all said, depression is a hell of a thing and I know that even if you know all of these things logically, that doesn't always equate to being able to pull yourself out of it. Just keep swimming. <3
Thank you!LisaGloria said:TOTES. August 20 was my worst day in a month, and I was all, "Welp! It's been fun! Time to get a name tag and a paper hat!"
And then I scheduled some promos and some countdowns and things have rebounded. I wrote nothing for 2 days which is going to bite me in the ass, but I *thought* about it...
Now go do something. Shoo. Go on now... You can do it.
I'm working on that right now and am struggling a little to get back into my "voice" for the character.H. S. St. Ours said:Please hang in there. It's tough sometimes, I know. I feel your pain. I too struggle with up and down (or no) sales, and it can be seriously depressing. Try to resist the urge to check sales often and, as others have said, keep writing! Nothing beats the low-sales blues and puts a smile on your face like getting immersed in a new (or ongoing) character. Good luck!
MrAzzatagoestotheinternet said:Since you're paid by the month, you should probably be looking at month-to-month numbers. Do something like take your monthly average (total sales) for the previous three months, then try to improve that number this month. That means every month, you're adding a new book or running a marketing campaign. Or both. Something like that.
Maybe the only times you should be monitoring your day-to-day sales numbers are when you're running promotional campaigns, so you can determine which advertising is the most effective and which you should abandon. But just checking on a daily basis seems to drive people insane.
I'm a short story, erotica writer so I haven't been doing any promotions. One, I can't afford them yet, and two I need to get a project out there that is more fully realized before I go the promotion route What I am incredibly bad about is constantly checking to see which title is selling and trying to figure out what has the potential to take off and do well if I add to its story line. Again, that is maybe something I need to do on a weekly or monthly basis instead of day to day.michaelsnuckols said:I think we've all been there. I know I have.
Remember that most "overnight successes" really had to try again and again until they found something that worked. The folks who are resilient and keep trying in spite of their fears, failures, and obstacles are the ones who ultimately succeed. If you publish ten books, nine are failures and one is a phenomonenal success -- would it be worth it?
That's what I did, and it worked well. I just wait until the end of the month and download my reports from the various vendors. Getting that distance seems to help--the sales are what the sales are.Honeybun said:Yep... I think it is time to put myself on a sales-check schedule of not every day.
What sub-genres are you writing in? And how many short stories do you have out? Are you getting positive reviews on the books you have out? All of these will affect sales. If you're hitting the hot sub-genres, and you have a fair amount of books out, you don't need to promote to see sales.Honeybun said:I'm a short story, erotica writer so I haven't been doing any promotions. One, I can't afford them yet, and two I need to get a project out there that is more fully realized before I go the promotion route What I am incredibly bad about is constantly checking to see which title is selling and trying to figure out what has the potential to take off and do well if I add to its story line. Again, that is maybe something I need to do on a weekly or monthly basis instead of day to day.
It's normaly like that at those days of month. they always improve in the last days of month.LisaGloria said:TOTES. August 20 was my worst day in a month, and I was all, "Welp! It's been fun!Time to get a name tag and a paper hat!"
And then I scheduled some promos and some countdowns and things have rebounded. I wrote nothing for 2 days which is going to bite me in the ass, but I *thought* about it...
Now go do something. Shoo. Go on now... You can do it.
Big hug back!Honeybun said:Okay.. It's time for me to take an official brown out. I am going to turn off my wifi until this evening and will only turn it on before then if I specifically and legitimately really need to.
Big hug to everyone and I hope you have a great day!!!
So true!anniejocoby said:I know that feel. I went for days without a single sale when I first started out. There were times when I was so desperate at seeing my poor book sinking lower and lower that I wanted to create different accounts for myself so that I could keep buying my book - I didn't want it to appear to people who came across it that was inferior because its rank was so low. Social proof and all of that...
One year later and, well, I'm doing much, much better. So, yeah, give it some time and don't give up. Remember, if you give up, you will fail for sure. If you keep going, you have a chance for success.
Me too!SevenDays said:I'd pass around cookies, but I have no cookies. All I have are stale fortune cookies. Boo.
I'm in the focus-on-the-next-book camp. I'm constantly brainstorming new stuff, so there's no time to get too down about low sales figures.
I have 19 titles so far on Amazon, all of them short story, erotica. I did have more but had to pull an older (from before I took a writing break of a year plus) more complete series due to content issue but I've still got that series working for me other places willing to take it. On Amazon, I'm selling almost every day--usually not more than one or two titles. But as I move forward with constant effort and very specific goals of success relating to being able to do this full time, when I hit a day of no sales, it's almost as if the floor of all that is possible just drops away and I get depressed and despondent. -- But I'm going to work on that! Today's brown out helped immensely! And, it drastically increased my productivity. Win-win!C. Gockel said:How many stories do you have out there? When I only had the first and second parts of my serial, and my one short story, no sales days were pretty common!
Also, pretty sure that you can do promotions with erotica--Eelkat had a long list of promo sites posted somewhere with lots of erotica links. And they were free. She writes short stories & erotica, you might want to reach out to her.