Self-Publishing: My Launch and What Now?

I thought I would say a few words about how my launch went, what my issues are now, and my thoughts about Amazon ads… Sorry, I got distracted my cat came, circled me, head-butted me, and went away. I’m not sure what that was all about. Maybe because once again I’m writing this on my notebook under the table. This time not because of the world is feeling overwhelming, but because of it seems I do my best work under the table. Something to do with calmness and no distractions except my cats.

It has been exactly three weeks since my launch. August twelve was a terrifying day, and I could have done it so much better as I wrote in my earlier post. Here are my sell stats as of today (September 2): 11 ebooks sold and 1194 pages read on Kindle Unlimited. Not disastrous but could be much better. The trouble is the lack of reviews. I’m struggling to get my head around the issue. Harness bloggers, force family members, extort those readers my husband brought through his indie game connections (he is the reason I have as many readers as I do,) or…? (Or the book is terrible and everyone is kind and don’t leave their honest opinion. This is my dick brain talking.) I’m not sure how I will go with the issue, I need to let my head wrap around it. Now my issues and being overworked come first.

Another issue might be my blurb. It’s not giving enough information for the potential readers. Maybe it should be longer and introduce more characters after the sell pitch? I know I could add two more paragraphs, and maybe it would get more people hooked. But I keep pushing it to the bottom of my to-do list which is wrong. I know I should get the blurb done ASAP. Okay, I force myself to do it before I go back to work. I have a week left my summer vacation. And before you feel sorry for me for having my holiday in September, don’t. My favorite time of the year is autumn. The light is soft and perfect, everything is full of berries, trees are turning colorful, and soon everything is dead (until spring.)

The third possible issue why my book isn’t selling more might be the price. $4.95 might not be competitive. I see a lot of ebooks selling under two dollars, and some of them are traditionally published. I was thinking to run my first price promotion. I will do that either soon with a marketing campaign or when I publish my paperback. I’m still doing research which would be the best way to do it. And oh yes, that is what I have been working on, my paperback. I will do it with KDP Print as Amazon is shutting down CreateSpace. So no point in learning it and then moving to KDP Print. But I have to find software to do the print format. I’m not satisfied with Scrivener, too little twinking options (translated: not knowing how to use it.) I would love to use Vellum, but I’m not part of the Apple Universe, and it is a bit too pricey for me. (My husband found me Scribus, haven’t had the time to get to know it.) I’m wasting my money on Amazon ads that aren’t working. I blame the lack of reviews (and my lousy writing, both with the ads and my critting book.)

Yep, I have been tinkering with Amazon ads, and they are up and running. I have seven different ad campaigns. Only one of them works properly. A product display ad targeting categories I have my book listed under. It has had 1619 impressions, seven clicks, and one buy. Others are doing nothing. It seems like sponsored products (both kind) are useless; so is product display targeting specific books. I think the last kind, the specific books, are too full of ads from writers and mine are not getting through. The working advertisement doesn’t have a bad conversion rate (30,37%), but I think it would work even better if I had that one review. So, please someone buy my book and write a review. There I said it. Why does it feel impossible to say aloud? As a self-publishing author, it’s nice to be able to control everything, but I find this marketing part too overwhelming and hard. I have this hang up asking people to buy, read, and review my book. It feels like I’m tormenting them someway. Stupid, eh?

Anyway, all of this is taking time and energy away from my second book in the series which I’m working on. I have written the first draft, done world and character building, and now I’m doing my first round of editing. Haven’t even gone past the first chapter. I’m stuck in a vortex called polishing.

Thank you for reading. If you have anything to ask or comment, don’t hesitate to contact me below the comment section or through contact sheet which goes straight to my email.