I very rarely discuss sales numbers and it took forever before I ever did any of those milestone posts, but then I decided that since my sales numbers are WAY below a lot of people's it wasn't really bragging. 
LOL, yeah, I thought about that belatedly too. I'm trying to straighten out my energy right now, explaining to the universe how I meant that.Dan C. Rinnert said:You called karma "silly" right in the subject line. You're doomed. So doomed.
I've peeked at your books a few times. You have a very respectable line of work, with very respectable ranks that have endured since I discovered KB 10 or so months ago.JRTomlin said:I very rarely discuss sales numbers and it took forever before I ever did any of those milestone posts, but then I decided that since my sales numbers are WAY below a lot of people's it wasn't really bragging.![]()
Hope the universe believes you.John Daulton said:LOL, yeah, I thought about that belatedly too. I'm trying to straighten out my energy right now, explaining to the universe how I meant that.
I've peeked at your books a few times. You have a very respectable line of work, with very respectable ranks that have endured since I discovered KB 10 or so months ago.
Man, I knew that loin cloth was me not committing. I hope Hugh and the universe will forgive me for my timid modesty. I always stand in the way of my own karmic success. The next full moon I will commit, and I will make sure my Halloween socks are made of wool, not a cotton-poly blend. I was being cheap, and, again, I apologize.AndreSanThomas said:Your actions (in terms of the kinds of things you're talking about), do not impact your sales. If you don't want to post figures because you feel it is bragging, or because you feel your contribution is too small, that's understandable, but don't let superstition keep you from doing it.
Besides, it is all counteracted by wearing your light up Halloween socks and dancing otherwise naked around your backyard chanting "Hugh Howey" on a full moon.
Just sayin'.![]()
Nice post, Lisa.LisaGraceBooks said:As far as karma:
When people do bad things to me, it does seem to come around and bite them in the arse (I've noticed.)
But since I believe in the principal of leaving any wrong done to me, in God's hands, (not my own, "Vengence is mine saith the Lord."), It's very freeing.
On that note, I do believe in sharing. Information is free and it's only valuable to those who take advantage of it and use it. When I'm busy helping others, I feel good. It raises your endorphine level. I recommend sharing.
You can't help if some people choose to look at it as bragging or your being pompous. That actually says something about them and the way they view the world. Others will take that information gladly, and use it to make their own plan. That again says something about how they view the world.
I, for one, am glad about all the generous (that's how I choose to view them) people who share what works and how well. I also admire those who have the courage to share when something doesn't go as planned. Both of these groups of generous writers have led me to make choices such as pulling some books out of select, setting one perma free, and exploring paperbacks and audio.
I doubt I would have done half these things if the people in the Writers' Cafe didn't share their results so freely. So thank you Writers' Cafe.
^ +1Phoenix Sullivan said:The very real danger in posting numbers and being open is that some folk will try to undermine whatever success you may have achieved by leaving one-star reviews and/or downvoting your better reviews and upvoting your poorer ones. That's not karma or superstition working for or against you. That's spite.
That's a catch 22. Posting that your book is selling well might drive some 1 star reviews, but it might also drive readers to your books to check them out. The thinking being, if he's selling well, then maybe his books are pretty good.Joe_Nobody said:^ +1
On another forum, I noted a direct correlation between posting about strong sales numbers and receiving hitman-like reviews against my books. Circumstance? Perhaps. Coincidence? Maybe. I left that forum and came here. When I first joined this board, I thought to myself, "these folks are real pros - no one here would do that." If you went back and looked, I posted 3 "feel good" threads about this, that or the other. All three times, like magic, some crazy, first time reviewer nailed one of my books. In MHO, these reviews were all personal attacks, nothing to do with the book in question. At best, these reviews were questionable.
I don't care if it's Karma or superstition or whatever...I'm not going to post specifics anymore.
The chances are just to great that one person out of the hundreds that read these posts is having a really bad day and becomes vindictive.
This is true, but I've never put much faith in marketing to other authors. I know lots of folks on this board are voracious readers, as was I at one time. Now, I don't have time to read much at all - being so busy trying to finish my own projects. Besides, my books are in tiny niche market, so I assume the exposure to new potential readers is minimal.vrabinec said:That's a catch 22. Posting that your book is selling well might drive some 1 star reviews, but it might also drive readers to your books to check them out. The thinking being, if he's selling well, then maybe his books are pretty good.
Darn. I knew I should have bought those light up Halloween socks.AndreSanThomas said:Besides, it is all counteracted by wearing your light up Halloween socks and dancing otherwise naked around your backyard chanting "Hugh Howey" on a full moon.
Thanks, Edward. So far so good. I guess we'll have to see about that audience long term. The big spike was March and April, and those folks have had a long time to forget. I hope they find this one somehow. There's only so much you can do with marketing, especially since Amazon doesn't let you have a list to email to. Maybe they'll do it anyway. Wouldn't that be nice?Edward W. Robertson said:Nice post, Lisa.
It's tough to draw the line between knowing what's appropriate to share in order to provide examples, and tossing stuff out that could be seen as (or just is) bragging about sales etc. But I wouldn't be doing this if it weren't for the numbers the people before me shared, so I try to err on the side of openness.
Also, glad to see your new release is kicking butt, John. I certainly saw a lot of your other book on the SF lists when I was stalking them nonstop early this year, so I'm glad to see that the necessary time to write such a long book didn't result in all your audience running off elsewhere in the meantime.