Wednesday, January 8, 2014

IWSG: Success!


It’s the first…er…second Wednesday of the month.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It’s been a very busy time for me lately.  I finally finished my second book, Leverage, the sequel to my first, The Mistaken, and I  must say, even though I haven’t gotten a whole lot back yet from my CPs (it’s only been a couple days after all), I do feel pretty good about it.  What they have said is they can’t put it down, so I’m feeling pretty solid.  No rookie mistakes this time around.  And where most of my reviewers called The Mistaken a rollercoaster, Leverage is  more of an amped-on-steroids rocket ride. 

Speaking of The Mistaken, November was a rather dreary month for sales.  Most all of my author friends had the same complaint, so I felt in good company.  But I decided it was time for a shot to the arm, so I placed it on sale for 99¢ for five days in early December to celebrate turning 50. 


Prior to that, I’d applied for a very expensive BookBub ad to run on the 4th day of my sale and was accepted, but it was well worth the price.  The Mistaken went as low as #87 overall out of all Amazon Kindle ebooks.  I made several bestseller and top-rated lists and have managed to hold on to two of them so far.  And while it’s slowly creeping back up in rank, it’s still in a nice, comfortable range, so mission accomplished! 



Also very exciting, The Mistaken audiobook was finally released by Cherry Hill Publishing and can now be found on Amazon, Audible, and iTunes


My point to all this?  Well, in this rather sucky business of publishing, it’s always an uphill battle and can be downright depressing at times.  But don’t give up.  Figure out how to deal with it and move forward.  There are a lot people out there in the same boat or who’ve experienced the same thing and have managed to pull through it.  Ask them for advice.  I bet they’d be only too willing to help out.  That’s how I was able to experience success last month.  I’ve found that all of my author friends are very Pay-It-Forward people.  It’s how we stay sane in an industry that will eat you alive if you’re not willing to play. 





14 comments:

Ellis Shuman said...

Wonderful to learn that you've finished the sequel! I look forward to reading it.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Happy New Year!
And thanks to the suggestions you sent in your email, my publisher and I are working on something to boost my sales as well.
And awesome you finished the next book!!!!

Natalie Aguirre said...

Happy New Year! That's so awesome you finished your book.

And thanks for the reflections on marketing. I know it's hard to go through but good to know that we all go through those times sadly. Sounds like you did somethings that really helped.

Michael Abayomi said...

Congrats, Nancy. And Happy New Year to you too. :D

Unknown said...

Congrats on finishing the book. Happy New Year from one ISW to another!

Isis Rushdan said...

Thanks for sharing your marketing experience. Happy new year!

Chrys Fey said...

Congratulations on finishing your second book . . . "amped-on-steroids rocket ride" that sounds like my kind of story! ;)

Heather M. Gardner said...

All good news! Especially the new book. You know I love me some Ty, the poor tortured soul.

Speaking of Pay It Forward, did you check out the PIF Book List? You're already on it but you can add titles if you like or get some new titles for your TBR list.

http://hmgardner.blogspot.com/p/the-pay-it-forward-book-list.html

Heather

Robin said...

Congrats on finishing the sequel. That is wonderful news!!!!

Donna K. Weaver said...

Congrats on finishing Leverage. And on the success with Book Bub.

Mistaken is my next audiobook listen once I finish Half Blood Prince.

Trisha said...

It sounds as if Leverage is in a pretty good place already. That's great news!

Well done on getting a boost in ranking. :)

Shannon Lawrence said...

We certainly haven't chosen an easy career, have we? Exciting about your second book! Sounds intense! And thank you for the marketing advice. I eat it up and store it for my some day. :D

The Warrior Muse

Anonymous said...

Isn't it great that writers support each other. In this overly competitive world it is nice to be able to ask for guidance and know we can get it.

Congrats on finishing your sequel!

Leanne ( http://read.wordpress.com )

DMS said...

Congrats on finishing your sequel! Yeah! It sounds like a lot has been accomplished and great things have been happening lately. I agree that it is important to ask other authors for advice- you never know what you will find out.

Wishing you a happy and healthy 2014. :)
~Jess