Well, I got my latest quarterly book sales figures yesterday. The good news is The Throne (No. 9 in the Bell Mountain series) sold in double figures. The bad news is, the other nine titles sold very little.
Not that I’m trying or expecting to get rich; but books that aren’t sold, aren’t read; and books that don’t get read, can’t bear fruit.
The problem, of course, is that few people know my books exist. The publisher can’t afford a proper advertising campaign. Neither can I. So we can’t get the word out. I need a captive celebrity. Any volunteers? Anybody know David Limbaugh well enough to send him a copy of Bell Mountain? (Yeah, I know he’s not a big celebrity; but he is a Christian one, and I esteem his work.) Anybody got $200 million to make a Bell Mountain movie? Anybody out there with a sky-writing plane?
Oh, well, keep trying…
It is my wish to help by translating your books during my lifetime.
I can hardly wait for your translation to be published. I can’t even guess how Japanese readers will respond to it.
So far, Mom’s been enjoying reading Bell Mountain in Japanese while checking for mistakes. That’s one of the reasons why I’m translating, to let Mom read the Bell Mountain series in her language.
Cool! Keep me posted, kimosabe.
Yes, sir, I will!
I own 3 of your books and intend to own all of them, in due time. I also enlighten many others about this great series. But i can’t post on facebook, only twitter, and it’s only me. Two of my relatives read the books and told me to buy more. I said okay but they’ll have to purchase one for each one I loan to them. I’m not cutting your profits, I just know that they won’t buy them all. Cheer up – at this point sales can only increase.
That’s true! Thank you.
Darn, I wish I had that $200 million, but all I have is $150 million. (Just joking! Just joking!) And alas, I don’t do any kind of facebooking or twittering or linkedinning or other such thing. All I can do is lend out the first book in the series and hope people get hooked enough to want to buy the next book … and next … and next…. 🙂
If you could very quickly make yourself a celebrity…
I am just getting ready to publish my first Christian/MG/fiction book. I know marketing will be hard. Have you tried the sales funnel or worked with a marketing person? How about games or Facebook live and ads? It is all so overwhelming. Also, there are well-known bloggers that might let you do a guest post. Good luck!
As the writer, I don’t feel I should do marketing: it’s certainly not what I know how to do. But thanks for the encouragement.
The best I can do these days is recommend good reading material. I have given my two to two grandkids, and I know they blab everything they know to everyone, so hopefully, they will pass on recommendations
Just prayed for the sales of your work…I need to eventually read your book that I bought!