I’m sitting here scratching my head and wondering why some books sell and some don’t. I don’t mean all books, I just mean mine. LOL Why do the same two books sell the best all the time?
Guardian Vampire took off in January and February of 2011 and made me a lot of money in those two months. I never figured out why that particular one sold like that. And now, over a year later, it’s still running neck and neck with Haunted Lake in sales. Haunted Lake is selling a little better right now, but GV is still doing well. If it weren’t for those two books, I wouldn’t be making much money. Haunted Lake actually took about 7 months from the publishing date to really start selling well. I don’t know why. It’s averaging 4 1/2 stars on Amazon, so that’s encouraging.
The reason I did the Libby Fox series in the first place is because my readers asked for a series. They really wanted a sequel to Guardian Vampire, but there just WASN’T a sequel in my heart and mind. So I did this other vampire series. There’s even a werewolf in the second and third book. And honestly…I think the Libby Fox books are better than Guardian Vampire. Much better, in my opinion. The covers are definitely better. Was it the title that sparked interest? (Thank you Susan.) Are the Libby Fox titles all wrong? The readers wanted a series. I gave them one. But they aren’t selling like I want them to. Is it going to be a delayed reaction like Haunted Lake was? I released the three novellas in June, August, and December of 2011. Should I be patient? I know the key to continue selling is to keep writing and publishing. But I’m still getting better sales on my older stuff.
So now I’m wondering about my garden gnome supernatural horror story. I haven’t a clue in the world how it will do. It’s out of my genre, but not too far out. There’s a romance in it, that’s just not the main focus of the story. Will readers think it really sucks? Or will they like this book that’s different from my others? My first beta reader likes it, even though she’s only seen the first draft. I’m anxious to see what my other betas think after I get the edits done. The thing is, even though I wonder about these things, I’m not AFRAID to publish this story. Because what will be will be. I’ll never know until I publish it.
So here’s an interesting question. Should I write a sequel to Haunted Lake or Guardian Vampire? Should I force myself to revisit those characters just to try to boost sales? Or should I follow my heart and mind and write what I feel? Actually, I’m not so sure I would mind revisiting Haunted Lake. Because the guy that DIDN’T get the girl might just have his own story to tell. The possibilities are endless, aren’t they?
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I am not a believer in going back to force a sequel. If one legitimately comes up, yay. But otherwise, I think anything you came up with would be manufactured and not true to the characters and hence, just not as good as the original work. I get a lot of WHERE’S THE SEQUEL? for Red and there just isn’t one. There’s no where left to go with that book. So…satisfaction of readers aside, I think you just write what you’re driven to write. As for Libby, it’s often been my experience that novellas don’t sell as well as full length novels. It’s not a length a lot of readers are used to, and with mine, anyway, a lot of readers were disappointed with the short length of them. I don’t regret writing them, but I do wish I had some other full length stuff in that same universe to drive sales more.
I agree…I shouldn’t force things. I don’t think there’s a sequel to Guardian Vampire anywhere in my mind. But I had actually thought about telling Daniel’s story from Haunted Lake. I have to feel it, though, to make it work.
Actually, Guardian Vampire is a novella. That’s one of the weird things about the number of sales it got. And I really didn’t get a lot of complaints about the length. Who knows? Maybe it was the title. Susan thought of that one. 🙂
I don’t read many vampire books.. but a book about a “garden gnome supernatural horror story” I am absolutely interested in! 😀
LOL, Darlene. I’m doing some editing on the gnome story right now. I’m seriously thinking about running a “name my book” contest for a title. I am terrible at picking titles.
I’d be interested in reading a garden gnome supernatural horror story, too. I have a leaning to horror (never write it but love to read it). 🙂
Ruth, this is the hardest book I’ve ever written. And I still don’t have it like I want it. I read a lot of horror, but this is the first time I’ve written it. Although, some of the paranormal romances have scenes that lean toward light horror, in my opinion.
I’m anxiously waiting to read the gnome story. I can’t wait to see what you’ve done with these potentially evil little garden accessories! So many stories beg a sequel, not just for the original interest from readers, but because you know the characters so well by the end that it’s easy to imagine what comes next in their story. Go with your heart though. What story would most likely keep you at the keyboard when spring weather beckons you outside?
Michelle, do you want to beta read the story?
I definitely want to write something else “ghostly” this time. You know my first writing love is ghosts. So I’m trying to see if there’s really something else I can do with Haunted Lake, or maybe just go to something else. You read Haunted Lake. Do you think Daniel has a story to tell? I haven’t decided.
I’d be happy to 🙂 I’m not entrenched in any other fiction at the moment. If you love ghosts, I think you’ve already answered your question. LOL. Only you know what Daniel’s continuing story could be, but I can imagine that the experience that he had with the paranormal could give him a background for a new ghostly adventure.
Who knows why some books sell and others don’t? The nice thing is, once it’s written, it’s out there — maybe the right readers just haven’t found Libby Fox yet, and when they do they’ll tell their friends and she’ll start selling. That could be five years from now. For myself, I’m trying not to focus a whit on sales — they’re just too random for a newbie — and focus instead on my next projects. The more lines we dangle in that reader ocean, the more often we’ll get a bite.
I have so much trouble deciding what to write next! I would never force a sequel, even if a book was selling well, because it would just be too painful to put the work into writing something my heart wasn’t on board with.
Ruth Ann Nordin has written a LOT of books, primarily romance. She’s been doing this awhile. And she still hasn’t figured out why some of her books sell better than others. So I guess it’s just a thing. I’m not going to drive myself crazy worrying about it. I just have to write.
I’ve been tossing around the idea of doing Daniel’s story, maybe from the perspective of a female main character who meets Daniel and the others. I’m going to let the idea percolate along with some other ideas I’ve had. Oh, the evils of having a full time job that takes away from writing!
it’s true. Some books sell better consistently, no matter how long they’ve been out, and others can’t move up in sales no matter how much shoving and pushing I do (even posting one for free on a blog). I have no idea what the secret is. We’re the same author with the same fanbase, but it’s like some books fall off the radar.
It’s frustrating, and right now I have a couple of readers who really want to read a book in a series that can barely sell 30 books in a month at $0.99 (and it’s been out since June). I’m not motivated to write it because the first book isn’t resonanting with the majority of my readers. And the sad thing? I think it’s one of the best books I’ve ever written.
I wish I knew why some books do better than others. Even across genres (contemporary vs. historical romance for me), some do better than others so genres don’t seem to have a correlation to sales either.
Ruth, when you figure out the secret, then please let the rest of us know. LOL
I agree with everyone else here. Write for yourself not the readers. The more you like what you’ve written the more the reader will like it. As for figuring out why something sells, good luck, but if you do figure it out please share!
Michael, I’m not sure anybody knows why certain things sell better. I’ve heard authors talk about this and most have no clue. If Guardian Vampire was a better written book than the Libby Fox books, it would make more sense. But that’s not the case. The very first book I ever wrote and published is still selling better than Libby Fox. Weird!