Why Doesn’t My Book Sell (Even @ 99¢)?

[HAParker321]

About every time I keep thinking about raising this valid question, I swear that the answers ought to run along the same lines of ‘Why didn’t the chicken cross the road?’ While there are a variety of humorous answers I can give to this question, I promise to keep the responses to a minimum. Now, I’m not speaking out of personal sales experience or success stories, but from a highly critical reader/editorial perspective. If you really want a sell, then there are a couple of pre-marketing factors that you need to consider: writing is one of them.

Why Doesn’t the Book Sell (Even @ 99¢)?

Short Answer #1: Because the storyline sucks.

Explanation: If the reader is going to take interest in your story, then you got to come up with something that’s worthwhile, given that the novel sounds memorable, catchy, and does not resemble a copycat story line (Thank you Stephanie Meyer). While the reader does want something that may involve a similar genre, he or she will not take interest in looking into a story that sounds like a repeat from a book previously read. Writers and editors call this i-n-n-o-v-a-t-i-o-n.

To read more on this post click here: http://theresurrectionseries.wordpress.com/2011/11/09/why-doesnt-my-book-sell-even-99%c2%a2/

[E. S. Lark]

A somewhat harsh but accurate post. I just want to add that you won't get any sales if people don't know about the book. It's rare for a book to take off without getting the word out, and even then, it can take months until you see a decent number of sales. I've read here on KB that 4-8 copies for the first month is the norm, so I know I'm on track. After that, who knows.

[HAParker321]

A somewhat harsh but accurate post. I just want to add that you won't get any sales if people don't know about the book. It's rare for a book to take off without getting the word out, and even then, it can take months until you see a decent number of sales. I've read here on KB that 4-8 copies for the first month is the norm, so I know I'm on track. After that, who knows.

Exactly, and that is what I do whenever I get my posts out there. More subscribers means the higher of a chance I have with people wanting to buy my book.

Parker

[ETS PRESS]

In explanation #2, you wrote "to read simple book". You left out the word "a".

[DG Sandru]

The best book if unknown will remain unsold.

[HAParker321]

In explanation #2, you wrote "to read simple book". You left out the word "a".

Thanks, as you can see, word choice is a problem for me.

Parker

[Monique]

To the OP and others wondering why their books aren't selling, you can always submit to Vicki's blog. Getting some outside feedback might help.

http://booknotselling.blogspot.com/

[HAParker321]

To the OP and others wondering why their books aren't selling, you can always submit to Vicki's blog. Getting some outside feedback might help.

http://booknotselling.blogspot.com/

Agreed, thanks!

Parker

[J. Tanner]

I think I have made a good point on this thread. Wow, so many viewers.

FWIW, the thread title tricked me. I thought you were going to discuss your own book.

[HAParker321]

FWIW, the thread title tricked me. I thought you were going to discuss your own book.

Nope, sorry. It doesn't trick anyone here. Read carefully.

Parker

[Joyce DeBacco]

I don't mean to sidetrack your discussion, but how did you make the cents sign? It's not on the keyboard, so I assume there's a combination of keys needed in order to access it.

Joyce

[Mike Dennis]

Joyce--The ¢ sign is option 4 (that's on a Mac). I can't speak for Windows. You might try Alt 4, but I'm just guessing here.

[HAParker321]

I don't mean to sidetrack your discussion, but how did you make the cents sign? It's not on the keyboard, so I assume there's a combination of keys needed in order to access it.

Joyce

Easy. I just looked up the 'cents sign' on MSWord, and then I copied and pasted.

[Joyce DeBacco]

Okay, thanks. I just thought there'd be a way to do it on the keyboard. Not that I'd use that symbol very often, but it would be good to know if I ever wanted to.

Joyce

[wade-bey]

Im having the same problem. I sale most of my books out my car. So far kindle has not worked for me but im not giving up.

[scl]

I don't mean to sidetrack your discussion, but how did you make the cents sign? It's not on the keyboard, so I assume there's a combination of keys needed in order to access it.

Joyce

if you go to http://www.ascii.cl/htmlcodes.htm there is a table of ascii characters. 
The cent sign is ¢ or ¢ in html.  If you make a quick file xxx.html and
put  the two sequences into it, open the file in a web browser, and cut them
out you can paste in here as:  ¢ or ¢  and get cent symbols.  There are a bunch
of other characters that you can use there as well.

the html code
yen symbol &#165; or &yen;  <br/>
reg trademark &#174; or &reg; <br/>
copyright &#169; or &copy; <br/>
pound symbol &#163; or &pound; <br/>

gives the following when looked at in a browser, then cut and pasted here to show the actual symbols
yen symbol ¥ or ¥
reg trademark ® or ®
copyright © or ©
pound symbol £ or £

I'm not sure how to put the sequences into bbcode directly to get them to show
the symbols and not the sequence for the symbol.

[Jim Krieger]

I mentioned this "fact" in another post.  I had read that there are over 800,000 books on Kindle.  That alone should make you a lot less surprised that yours has not been "found".  My book, no matter how good is but a needle in a very large haystack.  I have learned that I will have to learn marketing, whether I like it or not.  Some things I have learned so far.
1. Even people that like your book will not take the time to leave a review.
2. They won't post it on their facebook or reference it in twitter. 

Now in my case it may be because my first book is not a good as I think.  But I know I'm not actively selling it so, I will go learn how to sell books.

[StephenEngland]

I think the copycat point is a powerful one. Ever since Twilight, we've been swamped with an influx of horribly written vampire novels from both traditional and indie authors, all trying to cash in on the fever. Some of the more historically astute among us probably remember that the same thing happened when Tom Clancy's Hunt for Red October hit the big time. The market was then flooded with submarine novels(no pun intended), all of them trying to ape Clancy's style and make a buck. Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but as a business model it stinks.