In terms of book sales, June has
been a crappy month. In fact, it’s easily going down as the worst month in A Soul
to Steal’s nine month history as a published work, including when I first
beta-launched it last September.
After a blockbuster February and
March, book sales have steadily dropped off, only to collapse completely when
Amazon changed its algorithms around May 1. I’m hardly the only one to whom
this has happened. Author’s blogs are filled with similar stories. Some wonder
openly if this is the end of “indie” authors, whether Amazon—probably unintentionally—has
killed us off.
I’ve struggled with this question,
only to conclude that the answer really doesn’t matter. The real question is
this: why did I publish my book in the first place?
I did it so I could tell stories to
other people. Years ago, I wrote a good book. I consistently believed that if I
could put it in people’s hands, they would enjoy it. Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing
Program gave me a chance to test that theory. Sure, I had dreams that it would
be a runaway bestseller, storming the charts and allowing me to launch my
career as a novelist. But in my heart, I knew that wasn’t likely.
So I set a realistic goal for
myself: if I sold 1,000 copies, I would consider the book a “success.” I passed
that goal in early January, not quite four months after the novel first went on
sale. But I wasn’t satisfied.
See, I have a problem with the
notion of “success.” If A Soul to Steal was selling in the
Top 100 Kindle books, I might reasonably conclude it was successful. But
barring that, I have no idea what my parameters should be. How many sales are
enough? Should the book always sell well, or should it wax and wane? How come
I’m not selling like Fifty Shades of Grey?
In the past couple months, I have
checked the sales figures and despaired. Has this book gone as far as it can?
What if this is the end? Does that make the book a failure?
A friend of mine asked me recently,
“Aren’t you just amazed at how well the book has done? Do you ever sit back and
think, ‘Wow! I did it’?”
I stared at him like he was an
alien. I never once had that thought. Not once. When people congratulate me on
how well the book has done, I inwardly assume they are kidding—or worse, they
don’t really know what “success” is in this business. After all, no one is
buying movie rights. And it’s not like publishers are beating down my door to
offer me a six-figure advance.
But I think I’m the one who needs
to change my definition of success.
To help me, I decided to total up
some statistics. To date, I’ve sold more than 3,800 copies of the book and had
it borrowed around 250 times. During the book’s free days, an additional 35,925
people have downloaded it. All told, A
Soul to Steal has been bought, borrowed or downloaded to more than 40,000
Kindles.
During its run, it has hit multiple
Kindle bestseller lists, including #1 for Ghost-Horror and #4 for Horror. It
was the thrill of a lifetime to see my book sitting alongside Stephen King’s
latest novel, even if it was only briefly. It has even been in the top 20 for
Thriller and Suspense novels.
I have sold books in the United States , United
Kingdom , France ,
Germany , Italy and Spain . I received a note from a gentleman
in Romania
who said he enjoyed the book and wanted me to write a sequel quickly.
The novel was well reviewed by the
vast majority of book bloggers who read it, won praise from random strangers on
its Facebook page, and been
featured on USA Today. It has earned an
average 4.7 rating on Amazon with
88 reviews—all but three of which were 4 or 5 stars. It even earned a celebrity
endorsement from Mark Metcalf, the actor who played The Master on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Best of all, I’ve had dozens of
people I’ve never met not only compliment the book, but ask me when a sequel
will be out (It’s coming soon, I swear).
For me, that is the best sign of
all. Not only did people like the book but, God help me, they want me to write
more. If the goal was to pen a runaway best seller, then it’s clear I have not
succeeded. On the other hand, if the goal was to find and connect with readers,
then I think it’s time to lean back and say, “Wow! I did it.”
P.S. As a final hurrah for hitting
40,000 downloads, A Soul to Steal will be free one last
time TODAY (Wednesday, June 27). If you haven’t read it yet, check it out.
