How long does it usually take to release an E-Book and to get momentum going

I'd suggest you head over to the self-publishing forum, where there are a ton of people who are savvy about marketing.

I second what Liz says as well as visit some self-publishing forums outside AW and get involved in some self-publishing groups. How long it takes is subjective but I'd be worried if I had a released in April and you've had no sales or page reads yet.

You're using AMS and still not getting any sales or reads or clicks? Sounds like something is wrong with the book. Either it's the cover, blurb, the writing (Look Inside sample perhaps turning people off), you're not targeting the right genre, or the price.

We can't see it so can't offer any pointers unless you share. It could be any of the things I named above. If your book is on point then you should get clicks immediately and even sales as soon as people see the ad if you are drawing them in. Your book is not drawing anyone in if you aren't even getting clicks.

Also, there is a thing called the summer slump that seems to be even earlier this year. Book sales tend to get very slow for many authors in the summer because of all the things people do that distract them from reading. I stopped releasing in the summer.

Also, you had your book edited, right? If not then this could be the problem too but you're not even getting clicks which means something about the look of your book isn't working. Make sure your cover looks professional and fits your genre.

Good luck!

Some time between immediately and never. There is very little intrinsic value in the passing of time itself. It comes down to is there a market for the book, is the book packaged to appeal to that market if they see it, and have you done what is necessary to get them to see it and start telling each other about it. In order to determine where the problem lies I would suggest asking for honest opinions--linking to your book--in a forum with a lot of established self-publishers like kboards or writers sanctum.

In the case of my last novella, sales started immediately and continued going. In the case of my first novel and collection, sales never really got going. There's more to it than whether a book is good, as it also needs to be something people are looking to buy. However, even a niche book with completely unpopular themes will sell some copies. No sales at all suggests that you might want to get people to look it over.

I'm no expert, but I looked up your title on Amazon, and one massive problem is that when I typed in 'Godly Insight', it takes me to a screen full of self-helpy religious non-fiction.
'Godly Insight' is second on the list, after 'Mothers & Daughters: Practical Insight for Mums to Raise Godly Daughters'. The rest of the list is much the same.

I don't know how you can get your book shifted over to fiction, but that might help.

I read an article about a guy who made $120,000 a year pumping out books he had ghostwritten by Filipinos on message boards. He said the #1 place to spend money was on the cover, because that's what drives most of your sales. So I'd say get a better cover. Just by looking at yours, I have no idea what I'm supposed to be looking at or what kind of book it is.

mrsmig said:

Seconding Margrave86. The "Look Inside" feature reveals a story with potential and solid writing, but that cover screams "amateur." Your book deserves a better face.

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Solid writing, yes, but there's still a glaring error on the second line where sivart_sf used the wrong tense for "disgusted". If I saw something like that, I'd give it a pass too.

Better cover (if it's a detective story, preferably something with a detective) and another round of editing, I'd recommend.

Yeah, while we can't tell you why there aren't the sales you'd like, obviously, there are things we can see that reasonably could be affecting your ability to get sales -- like that the book itself needs editing.

A single book on KU doesn't have much of a chance for downloads unless you'd already built up for a base by its release.

The cover doesn't look like a Kindle Store offering, which probably won't work in your favor in ads. I don't think the cover is amateurish; however, it brings to mind Tapas and Smashwords, not Amazon ebooks. Researching where your target audience shops might help. Your most enthusiastic critique/beta reader is a good start for that research.

Submitting to review sites (maybe after another round of editing) can get more eyes on your book. Linking to your sales page(s) could help direct attention, too.

ETA another recommendation: Add a blurb to your book page. Finding information about your series is more challenging than it should be.

Something that might help with the appearing next to self-help thing... take a look at how you've titled it. At the moment, you've used a format that is SERIES TITLE IN HUGE TEXT: tiny book title. I've mainly seen this format in self-publishing and I've no idea why people go for it, given it is confusing. Anywhere that cuts off long titles ends up only showing the series name and readers can have trouble telling books apart. Places like Goodreads end up mangling the titles, due to the confusion about what part is the series and what part is the title.

You have an extra issue as your series name is what makes it sound like a self-help or religion book. But the titles of your books are much more clearly some sort of speculative mystery thing, so you don't want to hide those titles away.

That means my suggestion is to go for BOOK TITLE. Banish the series name from the title and put it in the section for series name where it belongs. On the cover, the book title will be the big words, with the series title in small text. So your books would be "The Forgotten Verse" and "The Chimera". And "Godly Insight" would only appear in the series name, suggesting there's some sort of religious theme to the series... but not that it's a self-help book.

Your rank isn’t terrible. Are you sure you aren’t getting some Kindle Unlimited downloads?

The advice here is good - to check out the self publishing threads people have posted and visit Writersanctum.com. I am only a newbie to all this but I have had to work for every sale and every review. Free promos, countdown deals, website, newsletter, promo sites, Facebook groups for kindle books and free books. You are jumping into a sea of millions of novels and it is hard to be seen - apparently much harder than it was in the past. Amazon ads are difficult to get right and also more difficult now than in the past, so I’m not surprised you haven’t had sales through that. I gave up on that a while ago.

I would not assume your book is not good. You haven’t had enough eyes on it to know... There are other ways to get seen than Amazon ads.

sivart_sf said:

Cheers. That doesn't seem right at all. A Self help section mixed with a science fiction book in it

thanks for taking the time

much appreciated

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And either way, you lose your audience - SF readers won't find it there, and people looking for religious self-help will be disappointed and annoyed.

Margrave86 said:

I read an article about a guy who made $120,000 a year pumping out books he had ghostwritten by Filipinos on message boards. He said the #1 place to spend money was on the cover, because that's what drives most of your sales. So I'd say get a better cover. Just by looking at yours, I have no idea what I'm supposed to be looking at or what kind of book it is.

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I'd love to read that article, if you remember where you found it. Seems highly unlikely to me, but so do lots of real things.

Barbara R. said:

I'd love to read that article, if you remember where you found it. Seems highly unlikely to me, but so do lots of real things.

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Can't remember off the top of my head, but I think it was one of those highbrow New York-type magazines, like the Atlantic or Quartz. I'll see if I can find it again.

I found the article, but apparently I misremembered it because tthe guy says you need a good cover, but only to spend $5 on it.

https://thehustle.co/underground-world-of-kindle-ebooks