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I am sharing a very REAL situation I screwed up and just fixed. With my latest release, I accidentally didn't speak enough that the series was NOT over, just Year One. The result is a week later, I have emails, comments, and reviews with lower stars because readers are mad that certain storylines are continuing into the next year, and they think the series is over and just going to be unresolved. That is a failure on MY part, no one else's.
I have used a preorder on just about every release since September (my July releases came out right before they became available to us). I do not chart as low on the overall Paid Kindle Store now with my releases because of doing a preorder, and I had planned to not use them all the time, just on my novels and as a release on the novellas to help Also Boughts attach before counting against me on the Hot New Release List 30 days. I let certain comments from people who don't even have a positive thing to say to me ever cloud my judgment and worry about what they thought about my "slipping rankings per release." (FWIW, I am doing way way more than okay. One reason many of us are not charting as low as last summer or last autumn is more competition, just more books, and now preorders. I sold MORE books on Day 1 of An Autumn Accord than I did of A Spring Sentiment and barely broke #2,000 in the Paid Kindle store while Spring nearly broke into the top #1,000).
I chased a sales rank and lost focus for a moment on serving my readers. My readers are kind enough to read and buy my books, they deserve to know what's coming next. That post I made about readers looking at preorders from their favorite authors as a potential customer service aspect is REAL.
And it's not my readers' fault, it's mine. When I think like a reader, if I was following a series and Book 2, 3, and 4, all had preorders, and Book 4 is "ending the year" and there's no preorder for Book 5, I too would be PO'd. And writing this post, I'm mad at myself for being so dense to not even THINK about this.
I DO write for my readers because so many authors in this genre do one and done. Or two and done. And there's NEVER enough Darcy to go around, ask the KBoarders who have written JAFF because of my big mouth last summer. Jane Grix is killing it out there and she is one of us (it's a pen name). Lk Rigel had a great preorder on her first book in her series and she's working on book 2. Penelope Swan is coming soon (another pen name of a Kboarder here). I am thrilled to death more great writers are coming over to the Jane side, even if it's just as a pen name so they aren't confusing their other readers.
I almost didn't share this because I didn't want to deal with more people tearing me down for sharing an idea. BUT, from the PMs and emails I get from other KBoarders about having big enough ovaries to keep sharing despite the backlash, I will. And if you want to say I'm just being narcissistic, Look at me or a humbrag, go ahead. I feel very strongly this board is awesome at providing reports from the trenches in real time that can make a difference in another author's plans and strategies to make it in this tough industry. And for that reason, I'm not going to stop suggesting new and innovative things I'm doing, or plans I'm putting into motion, or experiences I'm having on what's been one of the wildest roller coasters of my life.
Since preorders are still new for us (less than a year available to all of us, before that you had to have a rep), here's one piece of experience from the trenches. If you have 1 reader, 10 readers, 100 readers, if you start doing preorders and then stop in a series, you might send the message that the series is abandoned because they love your story and worry if they're going to get more or not. It's not a bad problem to have (hey, you have readers who CARE!), but if you aren't careful and forget who writes our paychecks, LOL, you can accidentally fail the expectations you have built up.
I have used a preorder on just about every release since September (my July releases came out right before they became available to us). I do not chart as low on the overall Paid Kindle Store now with my releases because of doing a preorder, and I had planned to not use them all the time, just on my novels and as a release on the novellas to help Also Boughts attach before counting against me on the Hot New Release List 30 days. I let certain comments from people who don't even have a positive thing to say to me ever cloud my judgment and worry about what they thought about my "slipping rankings per release." (FWIW, I am doing way way more than okay. One reason many of us are not charting as low as last summer or last autumn is more competition, just more books, and now preorders. I sold MORE books on Day 1 of An Autumn Accord than I did of A Spring Sentiment and barely broke #2,000 in the Paid Kindle store while Spring nearly broke into the top #1,000).
I chased a sales rank and lost focus for a moment on serving my readers. My readers are kind enough to read and buy my books, they deserve to know what's coming next. That post I made about readers looking at preorders from their favorite authors as a potential customer service aspect is REAL.
And it's not my readers' fault, it's mine. When I think like a reader, if I was following a series and Book 2, 3, and 4, all had preorders, and Book 4 is "ending the year" and there's no preorder for Book 5, I too would be PO'd. And writing this post, I'm mad at myself for being so dense to not even THINK about this.
I DO write for my readers because so many authors in this genre do one and done. Or two and done. And there's NEVER enough Darcy to go around, ask the KBoarders who have written JAFF because of my big mouth last summer. Jane Grix is killing it out there and she is one of us (it's a pen name). Lk Rigel had a great preorder on her first book in her series and she's working on book 2. Penelope Swan is coming soon (another pen name of a Kboarder here). I am thrilled to death more great writers are coming over to the Jane side, even if it's just as a pen name so they aren't confusing their other readers.
I almost didn't share this because I didn't want to deal with more people tearing me down for sharing an idea. BUT, from the PMs and emails I get from other KBoarders about having big enough ovaries to keep sharing despite the backlash, I will. And if you want to say I'm just being narcissistic, Look at me or a humbrag, go ahead. I feel very strongly this board is awesome at providing reports from the trenches in real time that can make a difference in another author's plans and strategies to make it in this tough industry. And for that reason, I'm not going to stop suggesting new and innovative things I'm doing, or plans I'm putting into motion, or experiences I'm having on what's been one of the wildest roller coasters of my life.
Since preorders are still new for us (less than a year available to all of us, before that you had to have a rep), here's one piece of experience from the trenches. If you have 1 reader, 10 readers, 100 readers, if you start doing preorders and then stop in a series, you might send the message that the series is abandoned because they love your story and worry if they're going to get more or not. It's not a bad problem to have (hey, you have readers who CARE!), but if you aren't careful and forget who writes our paychecks, LOL, you can accidentally fail the expectations you have built up.