Lots of huh moments this week. It's not hot anymore. I mean, seriously, that was unexpected. Of course, the tropical activity that killed the heat wasn't expected either. Look out the window at a wall of water (rain, not coastal) and go huh, where did that come from.
Don't get me wrong, I'm seriously happy that the oppressive heat was broken, but I needed a wee bit of a heads up about the tropical storm bands that aren't actually storm bands... I don't know... It was weird. Like last year when the only hurricane to come near the central gulf coast, formed in the central gulf and went south to Cuba... again WEIRD!
But again, it's nice outside today. This morning was almost nippy. It didn't last, but it was nice.
I always start with the weather. I'm sorry. It weathers here... ALOT!
Now on to other topics.
I've been working to get more books listed on D2D. We've had this conversation before. I'm trying to go as wide as possible because, honestly, I can't make less than three hundred bucks a month with 32 books enrolled in KU. I just can't. I mean, I have only just passed the one hundred dollar mark on the Zon but, well, I'm making sales on other sites. Not many. Not a hundred bucks. But something. It's a start. I'm hoping that the Kobo plus for a full month for all books will be decent. We'll know in a week or so. I made 39 bucks last month in KP, but that was only a partial month for all books. And yes, I know it takes time to build sales in wide release. And it does. More than a month. So we'll see. I still can't justify going all in in KU again, ever. I have a handful of books that do really well in KU, and I have books that do nothing in KU but have always done well on Kobo. For some reason the Adventure INK series is my biggest Kobo selling series. Match Day has sold more on Kobo than any other book I have. And that includes the football books. I don't understand it. Okay, I do. Most of my sales on Kobo come from Canada and other non-US countries. Countries that don't have American Football and most likely could not care less about American Football stories. So... fine, I get that. But, the Adventure INK series has been all but ignored every where else, and I don't understand that at all.
I mean, the straight romance books have always done better on Barnes & Noble. I can't give those away, literally, on any other site, not even in KU. I've got 13 years of data. And that's how it's been. Nothing new has sold on any site. Not even the football books. And that is the main reason I've stopped writing. Every new book since Out of the Blues has done progressively worse than the one before, until the last book didn't even make 200 paid sales.
It's not just me. I know this. But it does feel personal. I know the markets have changed. I know what is selling. I don't write what is selling. I don't write fast. I will not even attempt to publish a book a month. Kudos to those who do write their own book from scratch every month, you have my respect. It's not something I can do... and that's all I'm going to say on the subject. I mean, if you go back to when I first published as Mercy, not to 2005 with Ellora's Cave, but to 2011 when I first hit the charts with several books, you'll see that none of the authors I started out with are still around. Okay, a few. One or two went on to bigger things. Some are still writing and publishing but they never hit the charts that I'm aware of. But mostly, we're all gone. And I don't just mean the MM books. The straight rom authors who were coming up with me are gone too. So, yeah, it's not just me, but it is personal.
But that's water under the bridge... that's washed away in the storm.
SIGHS!
I digress.
Again.
I'm so tired of talking about it. I do not want what I had pre- Out of the Blues. I am not equipped to handle that kind of success. But I sure as hell don't know what I did to lose it all... again... I digress.
Once upon a time I had a Patreon. I did not like the Patreon. I can't explain that, best I can say is, it bothered me to ask people to subscribe when I was not able to put out content. So... that's why, in a nutshell, that I don't have Patreon... that, and well, other things.
I finally found a couple of groups on the book of faces that aren't promo groups, because that was just promoting to other authors trying to promote... I need an author support group, because damn if I know what's going on in the publishing world now.
And it came to my attention that there is a place called Ream Stories, that is part Patreon, and part Kindle Vella. And the best part is, they seem to be, uh, well, they say they won't censor romance authors, like the other site is known to do.
I've started looking into creating an account there. Let's call it research. I'm interested, but I can't afford to pay for offsite services like I needed at Patreon. Bookfunnel is not free to use. I need a new newsletter, but again, I can't afford to pay for a newsletter that reaches more than a few people. I am flat broke. And just like when I first self published, I am starting from scratch with no operating capital.
But if I'm going to start this again... that's where I'm going to start. If I can. If I decide it's a decent place to start. Just if...
And that's what is interesting today.
If, or when, I do this, I hope you'll join me. When I do this, I'll post the links and try to sing it from the rooftops.
Until then,
Peace,
Mercy
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