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I've learned that it's Christmas.
Admittedly that's not very helpful so I'll expand a bit.
Point One: Christmas is a good time for kids books Since Nov 1, my 13 kids books have sold 4000 print copies through Createspace. In the previous 5 months before that, I sold about 800 print copies each month. I could delude myself into thinking this current level of success will continue...but it won't....until possibly next Christmas season.
Point Two: Different kinds of books have different seasons. Well, at least kids books do. People are looking for gifts around Christmas and for all the advances that the world has made to pong, books are still a viable gift. And since I know kids print books sell better during Christmas time, I need to be as productive as I possibly can to make more product available for next Christmas! Does your kind of book have a season that's busier than others?
Point Three: Luck is real. Man, this publishing thing is a crapshoot. But....you can improve your odds of getting lucky by taking lots of swings at the plate. I've published 13 books since September of 2014. Some of them have failed spectacularly. In fact, I could argue that my 4 BEST books have all landed with thuds in the world. Three of those 4 were definitely my most expensive to produce books. Of the 4000 print books I've sold in the last six weeks, those 4 really good books (in my opinion) have only sold 59 total copies. Ouch! The lesson for me is to keep taking swings...but also, when I find books that people want to buy...to give them more of that.
Point Four: But don't give up on some of those bad selling books. Take the book Curial Diggs: World Treasure Hunter. This is my favorite book. It's my best book in several ways. It is absolutely my worst selling book. In some ways, this book is a mess. The title has proven to NOT work. I'm on my 4th different variation of the cover...and each one has been, in its own way, a mess. So while it wouldn't make sense to obsess over and spend an inordinate amount of time on this book...it also doesn't make sense to abandon it completely. Fact is, its a good book...and some day, I'll figure out the right title, the right cover, and the right way to position it so that readers can find it. If you take enough swings, chances are you are going to have some misses. Chances are some expensive misses. That's life. Keep working.
Point Five: I have found that I do not have success writing and publishing older middle grade books. My success is with younger middle grade (8-10 year old readers as opposed to 11-12 year old readers). My books aimed solidly at the 8-10 year old crowd (like Math Inspectors and The Big Life of Remi Muldoon) do well. My books aimed at the older reader do not. Maybe that just isn't the right age group for me or maybe there is a larger lesson. Maybe Self Pubbers have a harder time with the 11-12 year old market. In talking to writer friends, here is our working hypothesis. Books aimed at the 8-10 year old crowd (especially boys) that are shortish and relatively inexpensive are the kinds of things parents are very willing to buy...and keep buying in order to keep that age group reading. Whereas the older reader is going to be making more their own decisions on what to read. We may be wrong...but if you write for kids and have not had luck with print in that older middle grade age group...you might try the younger reader instead.
Point Six: This could all go away tomorrow. That's how I act. I assume something will change, my books will fall off a cliff and or everybody will realize I'm a gigantic fraud. So, despite my busy-ness...I try to do something every single day to push the ball up the hill. I do some illustrations. I write some words. I edit. I work on a cover. I run a promo. I spend an hour in my chair trying to think of ridiculous pictures....I don't know. The point is...every single day, I do something to move my author business forward. Sometimes...it isn't much. But it is always something. Without fail. Every day. I never ever miss a day. Not ever. I miss days writing. I miss days illustrating. I miss days running promos. But I never miss a day doing one of them. And over a year, it's incredible what you can accomplish when you push the ball of the hill just a little bit each day.
Point Seven: Make plans...even though they will change. In 2016..I plan on releasing 4 more Remi books and 5 more Math Inspectors books. I plan on unpublishing 3 of my books and then releasing those 3 as part of a brand new series. There is almost no way that I will actually accomplish these goals. I'll probably fall a little short. But that's okay. Falling short of aggressive goals isn't the worst thing in the world and come next Christmas...I'm sure I'll be proud of what I produced. Good luck to you all!
Dan
Admittedly that's not very helpful so I'll expand a bit.
Point One: Christmas is a good time for kids books Since Nov 1, my 13 kids books have sold 4000 print copies through Createspace. In the previous 5 months before that, I sold about 800 print copies each month. I could delude myself into thinking this current level of success will continue...but it won't....until possibly next Christmas season.
Point Two: Different kinds of books have different seasons. Well, at least kids books do. People are looking for gifts around Christmas and for all the advances that the world has made to pong, books are still a viable gift. And since I know kids print books sell better during Christmas time, I need to be as productive as I possibly can to make more product available for next Christmas! Does your kind of book have a season that's busier than others?
Point Three: Luck is real. Man, this publishing thing is a crapshoot. But....you can improve your odds of getting lucky by taking lots of swings at the plate. I've published 13 books since September of 2014. Some of them have failed spectacularly. In fact, I could argue that my 4 BEST books have all landed with thuds in the world. Three of those 4 were definitely my most expensive to produce books. Of the 4000 print books I've sold in the last six weeks, those 4 really good books (in my opinion) have only sold 59 total copies. Ouch! The lesson for me is to keep taking swings...but also, when I find books that people want to buy...to give them more of that.
Point Four: But don't give up on some of those bad selling books. Take the book Curial Diggs: World Treasure Hunter. This is my favorite book. It's my best book in several ways. It is absolutely my worst selling book. In some ways, this book is a mess. The title has proven to NOT work. I'm on my 4th different variation of the cover...and each one has been, in its own way, a mess. So while it wouldn't make sense to obsess over and spend an inordinate amount of time on this book...it also doesn't make sense to abandon it completely. Fact is, its a good book...and some day, I'll figure out the right title, the right cover, and the right way to position it so that readers can find it. If you take enough swings, chances are you are going to have some misses. Chances are some expensive misses. That's life. Keep working.
Point Five: I have found that I do not have success writing and publishing older middle grade books. My success is with younger middle grade (8-10 year old readers as opposed to 11-12 year old readers). My books aimed solidly at the 8-10 year old crowd (like Math Inspectors and The Big Life of Remi Muldoon) do well. My books aimed at the older reader do not. Maybe that just isn't the right age group for me or maybe there is a larger lesson. Maybe Self Pubbers have a harder time with the 11-12 year old market. In talking to writer friends, here is our working hypothesis. Books aimed at the 8-10 year old crowd (especially boys) that are shortish and relatively inexpensive are the kinds of things parents are very willing to buy...and keep buying in order to keep that age group reading. Whereas the older reader is going to be making more their own decisions on what to read. We may be wrong...but if you write for kids and have not had luck with print in that older middle grade age group...you might try the younger reader instead.
Point Six: This could all go away tomorrow. That's how I act. I assume something will change, my books will fall off a cliff and or everybody will realize I'm a gigantic fraud. So, despite my busy-ness...I try to do something every single day to push the ball up the hill. I do some illustrations. I write some words. I edit. I work on a cover. I run a promo. I spend an hour in my chair trying to think of ridiculous pictures....I don't know. The point is...every single day, I do something to move my author business forward. Sometimes...it isn't much. But it is always something. Without fail. Every day. I never ever miss a day. Not ever. I miss days writing. I miss days illustrating. I miss days running promos. But I never miss a day doing one of them. And over a year, it's incredible what you can accomplish when you push the ball of the hill just a little bit each day.
Point Seven: Make plans...even though they will change. In 2016..I plan on releasing 4 more Remi books and 5 more Math Inspectors books. I plan on unpublishing 3 of my books and then releasing those 3 as part of a brand new series. There is almost no way that I will actually accomplish these goals. I'll probably fall a little short. But that's okay. Falling short of aggressive goals isn't the worst thing in the world and come next Christmas...I'm sure I'll be proud of what I produced. Good luck to you all!
Dan
