Low Sales mystery

[Cosmic Geoff]

I recently self-published "The Witch's Box" on Amazon. Having been assured, despite my doubts, that it was a better book than my previous effort, with a stronger appeal to that important reader group, the adult female reader, and with various people volunteering that they liked the cover, I was hopeful that with its several enthusiastic 5 star reviews it would do a bit better than my previous book. But it hasn't. At all.
Which leaves me wondering if this s**t is normal, or is the problem that people don't like what they see when they get to the Amazon sales page, or is the problem that people are not finding out about the book?
I set up some Amazon pay-per-click advertising, which so far has cost the price of several Kindle royalties without generating a single sale. I will have to turn this off as it is never going to be cost-effective at this rate. I also tried posting on sundry Facebook groups with no apparent effect on sales.
Any comments or suggestions?

 

[Brian G Turner]

Self-publishing is a numbers games, ie, expect poor sales until you've published enough good books to develop a good reputation.

I've also posted elsewhere that IMO marketing a single book is pointless unless it's part of a series that the reader can prospectively buy into, as the cost per lead will likely exceed the initial single sale profit.

Also, writers need to ensure what they publish is to the highest standard, in terms of both the writing and the formatting. When I click through to the preview of your book the cover appears twice, then a god-awful map appears that look like you spent less than 5 minutes with Microsoft Paint. You made a big effort with the cover to look professional, but this map looks so amateur I bet a lot of people are clicking straight out the moment they see they could do better.

In terms of writing, how much third-party feedback have you had? For example, did you put any of it through the grinder on chrons? Note that just putting something up and getting feedback in Critiques isn't enough - get feedback, address, then put up the revised version, get feedback, correct, and rinse and repeat until you have something that generates only the most minor criticisms. Then apply what you've learned from that to the rest of your chapters and perhaps test this by putting a section up for Critique as well. That's when you then consider beta readers and editors to prompt more rewriting.

 

[-K2-]

@Brian G Turner ; would I be correct (or not) that since it is published on amazon as a kindle and PoD version, that aspects you note (double cover, map, and so on), may be addressed and updated at any time? IOW, double cover could be deleted, map revised, etc.?

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[Karn's Return]

until you've published enough good books to develop a good reputation.

Well, there goes any hope of me getting any sales, then... XD

 

[AMB]

How recent is recently, and did you get anyone to check your blurb before posting to see if it makes them want to read the book?

Modern publishing isn't a produce model where you need to sell units quickly in order to succeed. Get some of your first readers to recommend it to people who like the genre, and try to build word of mouth recommendation.

 

[Pemry Janes]

It isn't easy, I agree. Hard thing is to get noticed.

 

[Bagpuss]

I would also have another look at your blurb. As it stands, the blurb struck me as kind of boring and it doesn't really sell the story. Put it this way, I didn't read the blurb and think: "I really want to read this story!", or even: "Hmm, could be interesting." I read it and thought more: "Meh!" If you can't excite your prospective reader with the blurb, then they're not going to bother clicking through to take a look at the sample and they may not even bother scrolling down to check the reviews.

Thinking about it, if you are going to include the section on what early readers said in the description, then I would put that section at the end of the description and put the blurb first. Actually, now that I've scrolled down the Amazon entry I see you have several 5-star reviews, so I would probably ditch the quotes from the early readers altogether and just re-write the blurb to make it more exciting. However, if you really do want to keep the early reader quotes section, I'd still recommend putting it at the end of the product description.

 

[Overread]

You've got 4 Amazon reviews and 1 Goodreads review.
To me as a potential reader that basically says that you've got no reviews worth noticing. That might sound harsh, but the reality is that having so few reviews is not enough for them to carry much weight as they could so easily be "friends and family" type reviews. I tend to not pay a vast amount of attention unless there are negative reviews and also if there's at least over around 50 reviews when Amazon/goodreads is the prime source of reference (ergo when its not referred to me by a friend/ an author I already like etc...). Even then I've had hit or miss results until reviews jump into the 100 and greater in positive reviews.

So more reviews is a thing you need, have you sent out copies to review blogs/websites/vlogs (youtube) etc..? Have you joined up to becoming a "Goodreads Author"; have you any physical stock and are you doing signing events at local book stores? Have you been publishing short stories in writing magazines (perhaps even seeding a short story set in this world in that magazine with a follow-up note that its part of a soon to be published world and story The Witch's Box?).
What about your beta readers? How many did you have and did you ask any to drop you a review as well? What about promotional events? Did you offer out a dozen copies to people that you've networked with etc...?

Marketing is about getting attention on yourself an it IS hard. It is going to cost and it does take a significant time investment; plus its a rat race with a lot of other authors in the same race all fighting to get noticed.


On the subject of your reader comments :

"That was a very good read, by some margin the best I've read by this author."
"...the execution of teaching Maihara about life is fabulous."
"This isn't the usual genre I'd read but I really enjoyed the book."
"This is a well-structured, fun read with some incredibly well done battles and an intriguing magic system."

Honestly I'd drop ALL except the last. The first isn't positive enough and suggests that you might still have a ways to go; the second is not really of any interest in my view; the third has no context and is sort of casual. Only the last is actually grabbing my attention in anyway by saying that there's battles, magic and that they've clearly enjoyed it - there's and "energy" in that short quotation that's missing from many of the others.

That said all four are also not attributed to anyone. Who said those things? Was one by your family? Who your reader comments are from is almost as important as what is said. When you see big publishers doing this they always attribute and they always attribute to a known entity. Most often another author within the same publishing house - GRRM saying that he loved your book carries weight. Dave loved your book carries none and "I loved this book" even less. Another option is to quote reviewers - be they online or newspaper etc.... Again its providing someone of a known value and quantity and honestly also trading off their name, in part, to help get attention to yourself.


I agree with the part regarding maps mentioned above, you might want to check out this thread Fantasy Map Creation kit! where there's some mapping software that would ideally suit your desires for creating a professional looking fantasy map whilst not being gifted with great art skills. Little touches like the quality of the map do make a difference to a readers early impressions of a book.

 

[Finch]

The witch and magic thing is very competitive part of the book trade at the moment. I'm not your target audience , I have only read the first page , but I don't think your writing will stand up to the competition. To sell stuff on line , without promotion, .there needs to be a demand for your product , it needs to more desirable than the competition , and if you need to tip the balance, cheaper.

 

[Overread]

and if you need to tip the balance, cheaper.

I think writers have to be careful with going cheaper as the book (esp digital) is already a very cheap product even when going at standard market rates. That doesn't actually give you much wriggling room to adjust prices whilst still maintaining an air of quality. When I'm looking for new books to read its almost a warning sign to me if an author has many books way below the £5 or so price point. At that point I'm thinking "are you undercutting because you're not good enough - is your product worth less because it is lesser!"

Now if you have a regular series of books and book 1 is at £1 an the rest are way up at £5 or £7 then I'm more inclined to think that you are at the regular quality (because the regular price on all the books is standard) whilst the first is simply a welcome discount to get new readers in. In that case it works because you're only discounting the gateway into the series.

Short term promotions also work, though again you've got to be careful. Devaluing your own product too soon and too fast leads to lowering its perceived value in the eye of your potential customers. Plus if your marketing is already not netting many sales then who are you discounting for? If people aren't looking at your work to start with then undercutting and discounting isn't going to net you more sales because you've not got the casual views for people to even notice.

 

[The Judge]

I've only read the first scene or so, but I'm not sure that those people telling you it will appeal to an adult female reader are correct. I love fantasy, and I love strong women doing interesting things, but a 14 year old princess opening a present and having a bit of a strop about it isn't something that excites me -- the writing would have to be superlative to make me read on and, to be brutally frank, this isn't of that quality.

If she remains as a teenager all the way through, then it might be that you're aiming for the wrong audience, and this needs to be YA or even younger. You might then need to have another think about themes and the like, though, before simply re-categorising it.

If she's actually an adult -- ie well over 20 -- for the majority of the book, or even if she's not quite that old but the themes are very adult, then it may be that you've started in the wrong place. In that event, I'd suggest you either have this first chapter as a very condensed flashback once we've got to know her as an adult/older teenager, or as a very short prologue. That involves re-writing, obviously, but it might be better to remove the novel now, give it a far stronger opening, and re-launch it later, perhaps under a different title.

I see from your acknowledgements that you've had plenty of help from beta readers and critiques, but are these all people who read this type of fantasy and can give really good help and advice as well as encouragement? If you were thinking of re-writing the opening, then it might be we could waive the usual no-published-work rule and allow a short extract to be put up here on Chrons, where you'll certainly get great help.

Whatever you decide to do, good luck with it.

 

[Finch]

I think writers have to be careful with going cheaper as the book (esp digital) is already a very cheap product even when going at standard market

This is a much debated point , and your point is true to many book buyers . But some readers will be more likely to take a chance to read a unknown writer , with no sizeable feedback , if the book is 0.99 pence.

 

[Overread]

This is a much debated point , and your point is true to many book buyers . But some readers will be more likely to take a chance to read a unknown writer , with no sizeable feedback , if the book is 0.99 pence.

Very true, but for that I'd suggest a limited sale period coupled to marketing. Ergo rather than price yourself at £1 or less all the time; have a normal price then a weekend price where its lower and couple that to some marketing. A lower price point is not going to generate many more sales if the advertising/marketing isn't there to make people aware. All it does is push you down into the £1 segment of the book market which is already chock full of other authors who undercut/discounted to get there.

 

[Finch]

All it does is push you down into the £1 segment of the book market which is already chock full of other authors who undercut/discounted to get there.

There is an approach much loved by green grocers . You take a box of apples . You place some on the top shelf and label them top quality and mark them up with the highest price , some go in the middle shelf and just price then cheaper than the best quality. The rest are left in the box place on the floor and marked bargain price . The apples are all the same but people do make different choices based on price . For the self published book writer , you don't have that option . If your unknown and your not selling , putting price up will not work . Just sitting it out and hoping things will improve is not the answer . I don't know what is the best way , but one way is the reduce the price and write another book as quick as possible. In the hope that anybody that bought the first might buy the second , at a higher price . The net is largely a race to the bottom , but if your going to sell stuff on the net you will need to part of the race , or drop out.

 

[Cosmic Geoff]

Thanks for comments.
The map, yeah ... I looked at the fantasy map generators, could not get my head around any of them.
The 14 year old character (at start) - one beta reader did warn me that this would be a problem. From chapter 2 onwards she is 17.
Cover appearing twice - I will look into it - thought a lot of Kindle books did that.
Blurb - well of course it could be better; I'm not a marketing person. I'll see what I can do with it, in response to your comments.
Need 50+ reviews - I am sure that would help a lot. But to get 50 unsolicited reviews from buyers would require (at the response rate of 1% I have seen quoted) about 5000 sales. If it sells that many I'll be having an all-night party.

 

[Cosmic Geoff]

I have given the blurb a temporary fix, which may not appear for several hours. I found the reader quotes for the paperback had run together. I thought I fixed that at launch but it was back. Now cut.

 

[The Judge]

The 14 year old character (at start) - one beta reader did warn me that this would be a problem. From chapter 2 onwards she is 17.

Does she stay at 17 for the rest of the novel? Unless your work has very adult themes then it's still unlikely to attract adult female readers unless they enjoy YA. If they do enjoy YA, aiming it at the YA market isn't going to affect sales to them, whereas continuing to push it as an adult novel is going to miss out people who are searching for YA and will really tick off people like me who don't want it.

By the way, by "adult themes" I don't mean gore/violence/sex, all of which can appear in YA, though the treatment of how these are shown and the consequences etc would undoubtedly be different. Perhaps "themes" is the wrong word for me to have chosen. But if, for instance, you look at HareBrain's The Goddess Project and its sequel, the three main characters are all under 20, but the underlying issues, and the dense cerebral writing, mean it would never be designated as a YA book.

Blurb - well of course it could be better; I'm not a marketing person.

Then why on earth didn't you put up a draft in Critiques and get help with it?

 

[tinkerdan]

When I looked at this I thought the cover was interesting and the blurb was adequate; however I usually love to see samples inside before I reject a book.
That said; I wasn't put off at all by the map--except that I tend to give maps a glance and no interest--honestly if I need a map to help me figure things out then there is something wrong in the writing.

I would agree with some mentions above that for Self-publishing it is more about getting a number of books to show off and hopefully a few readers more for each book. Even traditional published authors have found that the sales and reaction for their first few novels was never enough to gain them anything more than the original advance payment for their work.(There just wasn't enough for any further royalties.)

My first two novels haven't gotten me enough to pay for what I put into them. Giveaways[I've given out more than 1500 copies of the two together]don't help much and for my efforts I only have four or five reviews from those and of those only one is on amazon, two on goodreads, and two on smashwords. Smashwords is where I have given out the most free books.

I would guess, depending on how many copies you have sold, your five reviews sound pretty good to me. However having all five being 5 star makes it feel like these might all be friends and family. That may or may not be true; however, as far as new and self published authors, that is the perception of a lot and many readers who feel burned by all the five star reviews. As strange as it may sound, you could probably use some 3 star reviews.

But, for a moment let's get back to the blurb and the sample.

The author bio might be better in the back pages of the book not on the cover.
The quote might work better if it is shortened.
This will clean up the back panel and highlight the blurb.
Right now it looks a bit busy and sounds a bit like tooting your own horn.
That's just my opinion.

Inside the first paragraph has elements that feel passive to me; including the use of 'The' at the beginning of several sentences.
I really think, since I base my purchases on the sample, that you need to clean it up to get the readers attention to smoothly draw them down the page, which I had trouble doing; although I think it improves as the reader continues
Once again my own opinion.

I honestly don't think, without more knowledge of how many views per sale you have on your page in amazon, that any of above matters as much as just getting visibility[if you had 100 people look at your book it might not say much, where thousands viewing and only a handful of sales might indicate a strong need to look at those elements];and without amazon actively promoting your novel it will easily get buried in the stacks of novels being published every day. Also I'm not sure how someone might get those numbers.

Good luck with it. Keep writing.

Note:
If someone reading this knows how to get the number of clicks that a books amazon page gets....
I'd love to know, so don't feel shy about telling.

 

[Toby Frost]

Firstly, this is a very hard area to "crack". My suspicion is that, even with multiple titles, you would have to treat self-publishing as a job - ie put in 9-5 hours - on promotion and so on, to make a decent amount of money from it. You would also need a fair level of technical knowledge to make videos, banners, adverts, etc. And then there's a huge amount of luck. In SFF, at least, there tends to be a bit of a snowballing effect, and sites will often either not notice a book at all, or say that it's the Best Thing Ever. Reviewers vary, of course.

I would agree with what has said about the map, quotes and blurb. It might be an idea to rewrite the blurb and put it up here for comment if that's allowed under forum rules. If you keep any of the readers' comments, I would certainly put them after the blurb on Amazon.

Following on from what The Judge said above, I agree that this sounds more like YA as yet, and a character who is 17 will probably also keep the novel in YA unless the story is unusually adult. I'm not sure that "adult female readers" are generally targeted by anything other than the "women's fiction" subgenres, but I may well be wrong about that.

When I self-published my own novel, Up To The Throne, last year, I completely rewrote the first chapter. The main reason for doing so was to provide an exciting start, but also to show readers what they could expect from the rest of the book. To be honest, I had a checklist of elements that I wanted to include: the existence of gunpowder and inhuman creatures; the skills and limitations of the heroine, a scene that passed the Brechdel test, and so on. I've noticed a tendency for people on the internet to focus on what's in a book, rather than whether it's good or not, when talking about it, so it's probably good to be clear about what readers can expect to see.

As to the publishing side of it all, I find it hard to tell. My tactic at present is to write three connected books, self-publish them all and drop the price of the first one in the hope that it lures punters in to read the others. I've seen instances of very long series where the first book is free, but I'm not sure how many novels you'd need to make this worthwhile. It's a tough business, that's for sure.

 

[-K2-]

Note:
If someone reading this knows how to get the number of clicks that a books amazon page gets....
I'd love to know, so don't feel shy about telling.

Well, I just read a few pages I found on 'amazon clicks, page views, shares, sessions, etc.,' and I have to say... Anyone reading any of my nonsensical languages, will learn them in their entirety on their first skim through. Yes, they are that logical, easy to understand and learn, no matter how complex they may be. How do I know?

Well, I just read a few pages I found on 'amazon clicks, page views, shares, sessions, etc.,'...

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