Jumping into a very large pond (and trying not to drown).

M. H. Lee

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This summer has been very tough. I thought my grief would get better with time, but it seems to be getting worse. For a while, it was like I could pretend my dad wasn't gone. Now, it's impossible to deny it.

That's the tricky thing with grief. It isn't linear. Especially if it was someone really important to you. The only thing I can say is that given enough time those brutally hard moments aren't as frequent. But they will still happen. It's been twenty-four years since my dad passed away and I can still get blindsided by those feelings of loss.

Hang in there and expect there to be ups and downs. It's normal. But if you feel like it's getting unrelentingly worse then seek help. There's nothing wrong with needing help if that's what it takes.

Also, there was a great essay on grief by Lauren Herschel in The Writer's Book of Doubt. Looks like it was adapted from a Twitter thread so might be worth searching for "the pain button" on her page to find the original.
 

rwm4768

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Oddly enough, I feel like getting back to writing might be a big step toward feeling more normal. It's been a period of major life upheaval.

Right now, I'm grieving my dad, looking for a job now that I've graduated, trying to get our house ready to move, and trying to keep my bipolar under control through all of it.
 

rwm4768

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It's been a while since I've popped in here. Thought I'd at least share my August numbers.

Empire of Chains: nothing
The Shadowed Land: 2 KU pages read
The Gilded Empire: nothing
The Winds of Time: nothing
World in Chains: The Complete Series: 2 sales, 7140 KU pages read

Sunweaver: 2 KU pages read
Fireweaver: 1 sale

Bit of a strange month, but it's about what I expected. The only book I'm really publicizing at this point is the box set, so that's where pretty much everything has been centered.
 

playground

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How's your writing been going? Able to get back into it a bit more?
 

rwm4768

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How's your writing been going? Able to get back into it a bit more?

I have the occasional day of writing (like maybe twice a month). My depression has been hitting me hard. I keep hoping I can get back to it, but I'm trying to be patient with myself.
 

rwm4768

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I'm a bit late with the September numbers, but here they are.

World in Chains: The Complete Series: 1 sale, 4978 KU pages read

Sunweaver: 524 KU pages read
Fireweaver: 502 KU pages read

Everything else had nothing.

So it was a pretty good month for me in KU.

In other good news, I wrote 2500 words yesterday, and I'm already at 1700 today.
 

playground

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Congrats on the writing again! Which series is it for if you don't mind me asking?
 

AgathaChristieFan

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Hi, RVM4768, it's cool that you're writing again. What series are you working on? I'm sorry for your loss. I couldn't even imagine. I like that you're getting KENP pages read. I would get them too but only make cents each month because the reads were from different countries. That's why I left KDP select and went wide. Good luck with everything.
 

rwm4768

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Right now, I'm working on a new series. I still have to edit the final book of my Sunweaver series. Then I have another trilogy that's completely written, but I still need to edit all the books.
 

rwm4768

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October numbers update:

Empire of Chains: 1 KU page read
Fireweaver: 26 KU pages read
The Winds of Time: 13 KU pages read

World in Chains: The Complete Series: 1 sale, 7067 KU pages read

So the box set continues to be best for me. It's also the only thing I'm advertising on Amazon, so that might be part of it. Right now, I just don't have the money for multiple ad campaigns that may or may not yield results.
 

playground

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October numbers update:

Empire of Chains: 1 KU page read
Fireweaver: 26 KU pages read
The Winds of Time: 13 KU pages read

World in Chains: The Complete Series: 1 sale, 7067 KU pages read

So the box set continues to be best for me. It's also the only thing I'm advertising on Amazon, so that might be part of it. Right now, I just don't have the money for multiple ad campaigns that may or may not yield results.


Out of curiosity, how much do the ad campaigns cost?
 

rwm4768

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Out of curiosity, how much do the ad campaigns cost?

More than I'd like. At this point, even with decent page reads, I'm still losing money. I may end up pausing the AMS ads and trying Facebook ads again. I have my AMS ad budget at $3.00 a day. Sometimes, they reach it. Sometimes, they don't.
 

pattmayne

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It's been a while since I've popped in here. Thought I'd at least share my August numbers.

Empire of Chains: nothing
The Shadowed Land: 2 KU pages read
The Gilded Empire: nothing
The Winds of Time: nothing
World in Chains: The Complete Series: 2 sales, 7140 KU pages read

Sunweaver: 2 KU pages read
Fireweaver: 1 sale

Bit of a strange month, but it's about what I expected. The only book I'm really publicizing at this point is the box set, so that's where pretty much everything has been centered.

Thanks for sharing this. I tend to utterly distrust all pro-self-publishing content because nobody offers real numbers and data.

If we could share our actual experiences we might be able to improve those experiences. Self-publishing should be more of a force-to-be-reckoned-with, but everybody just acts like a subject of the State of Amazon Publishing.
 

rwm4768

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Thanks for sharing this. I tend to utterly distrust all pro-self-publishing content because nobody offers real numbers and data.

If we could share our actual experiences we might be able to improve those experiences. Self-publishing should be more of a force-to-be-reckoned-with, but everybody just acts like a subject of the State of Amazon Publishing.

You also run into the issue that the more successful self-published authors are more likely to boast about their numbers. It inflates the perception of how successful you'll be self-publishing. The fact is, most self-published authors have sales figures much more like mine. I'm getting a few sales and few reads in Kindle Unlimited, but I'm not even at a point where my sales figures reach $1000 in a year. That's just the nature of the beast.
 

Cephus

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Thanks for sharing this. I tend to utterly distrust all pro-self-publishing content because nobody offers real numbers and data.

If we could share our actual experiences we might be able to improve those experiences. Self-publishing should be more of a force-to-be-reckoned-with, but everybody just acts like a subject of the State of Amazon Publishing.

People like Chris Fox over on YouTube publishes his actual numbers all the time. The problem is, he's a very successful self-published author and far too many people think they're going to get his results by doing what he's doing without his years of experience and large back catalog.
 

Woollybear

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pattmayne:

I told friends and family (and more friends from over the many years) that my book was available on Amazon yesterday morning. Maybe 12 people told me they bought the book straight away--Woot! But those are all friends/family, still... It's a nice boost that they cared enough to do so. I discovered the author sales tab this morning and Amazon lists four sales--2 ebooks and 2 print, but the print books (which most friends/family said they would order, not e) apparently don't show up for a few days (printing and shipping.)

I announced on Twitter and Facebook this morning--not much happening but my street team is boosting as best they can which I send *love* for.

I'm trying to figure out Instagram, because apparently sales boosts from IG promotion are 50 times what they are from other SM, is an article I saw yesterday is accurate.
 

Cephus

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The problem is, that can hurt you. Amazon looks at the purchase history of the people who buy your book to find out who to recommend it to. If your friends and family are not big readers in your genre, it can derail Amazon's algorithm. It can start to suggest your book to people who are not your primary market.

I always just give copies to people who fall outside of my primary market. It's great that they want to support me, but they can do more harm than good.
 

rwm4768

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Personally, I've tried the organic approach with sales and reviews. Beyond targeting my ads to similar books in my genre, I don't go around trying to get random people to read my books. Not sure how successful it is, but it's the approach I've taken.
 

Cephus

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Personally, I've tried the organic approach with sales and reviews. Beyond targeting my ads to similar books in my genre, I don't go around trying to get random people to read my books. Not sure how successful it is, but it's the approach I've taken.

Just getting random people will hurt you. You only want people who regularly read in your genre to be buying your book. Amazon looks at their buying history for clues on who to promote your book to. If it's just some shmoe off the street that doesn't read your genre, it'll start wasting its time trying to sell to people who don't care about your book.
 

rwm4768

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Just getting random people will hurt you. You only want people who regularly read in your genre to be buying your book. Amazon looks at their buying history for clues on who to promote your book to. If it's just some shmoe off the street that doesn't read your genre, it'll start wasting its time trying to sell to people who don't care about your book.

Yeah, that's why I didn't work to get many family members to buy it. I'd rather have properly targeted readers.
 

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Based on your latest blog post it looks like you are changing things up?
 

rwm4768

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Sorry I haven't been here in ages. During that long period when AW was down, I kind of forgot this place existed. I'll pop in again with more numbers.
 

rwm4768

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Full numbers for 2019:

Empire of Chains - 22 sales, 4275 KU pages read, 79 free books
The Shadowed Land - 5 sales, 1238 KU pages read
The Gilded Empire - 1 sale, 2 KU pages read
The Winds of Time - 2 sales, 39 KU pages read
World in Chains: The Complete Series - 27 sales, 57045 KU pages read

Sunweaver - 18 sales, 1545 KU pages read, 155 free books
Fireweaver - 19 sales, 938 KU pages read
 

rwm4768

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January

Empire of Chains - 2 sales, 1007 KU pages read, 468 free books
The Shadowed Land - 4 sales
The Gilded Empire - 5 sales
The Winds of Time - 2 sales
World in Chains: The Complete Series - 4 sales, 3858 KU pages read

Sunweaver - nothing
Fireweaver - nothing
 

rwm4768

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February

Empire of Chain -: 6 sales, 973 KU pages read, 3 free books
The Shadowed Land - 1 sale, 550 KU pages read
The Gilded Empire - 1 sale, 1 KU page read
The Winds of Time - nothing
World in Chains: The Complete Series - 7 sales, 4183 KU pages read

Sunweaver - 522 KU pages read, 14 free books
Fireweaver - 1 sale, 545 KU pages read