Lynne Stringer – Author & Editor

When you’re an unknown author, it can be difficult to make sales. This can definitely make me feel like giving up at times.

Another blogger, Elle Griffin, recently put up a post called ‘No one buys books’, which you can read here. In it, she quoted statistics that both depress me and make me hopeful.

For a start, most books don’t even sell 1000 copies. According to publishers, 90% of books never sell more than 2000 copies and 50% sell fewer than a dozen copies.

Happily, none of my books are in the 50% bracket, so that’s a plus, and it’s nice to know that I’m not the only author who struggles with sales; even those with big publishers do. But at times like this, I wonder why I keep going.

One reason is because of weekends like the recent Gold Coast Supanova. I sold well there, at a table with my fellow Indie authors, Jeanette O’Hagan and Adele Jones. We all had encouraging sales, including one girl who swept by and bought a copy of just about every book on our table. It was wonderful to see someone who not only enjoyed reading, but prioritised going to events like Supanova and buying from unknown authors. It does so much for the morale of the tiny fish in this big pond when we meet people like that.

Another reason is that I can stop writing, so I guess stories will continue to come out. I’m getting ready for the release of Keeper of the Archives in September and hoping it will do well. Perhaps it will be my best release yet! I hope so.

Facebook Comments