I'm finding it difficult to understand why the majority of replies to the OP's question seem to come back to marketing. We have two very successful self-publishers on this forum who have made it clear that marketing isn't necessary.
Both @Held for Ransom and @ChickenHawk have clearly explained the "secret" behind their success:
As far as I can see, here's the "easy button" everybody keeps looking for:
1. Research the market and find a genre full of hungry buyers.
2. Write the very best book you can write.
3. Create a professional looking cover.
4. Create a compelling blurb and "look inside" to entice readers into buying.
5. Rinse and repeat.
Simple? Yes. Easy? Hell No!
If it were easy, there would be no need for this thread and every book that we all write would shoot to the top of Amazon's bestseller list.
Let's not forget that @ChickenHawk ran into some of the same problems that the OP is having when she first started her fastlane journey. CH began by writing children's books (three or four of them if I remember correctly) that didn't sell as well as she had hoped they would. But, as far as I know (@ChickenHawk please correct me if I am wrong), she didn't sit around and try to figure out an "effective marketing startegy" to help increase her sales. Instead, she had a large enough catalog of work to realize that the children's genre wasn't profitable enough to waste any more of her time in.
So, she did some more research and switched genres and pen names. It worked.
Then she wrote another book and became a respected Fastlane Legend.
Anyway, I write all of this to say that I believe @karmazon has a large enough catalog of books to realize that something obviously isn't working - and I don't think it has anything to do with marketing (or a lack thereof). There could be any number of problems (or a combination of problems): Maybe your writing books in the wrong genre, maybe you need to change the titles, maybe your blurbs aren't effective enough to make people want to buy, perhaps your writing style needs improvement, maybe your characters are flat and one dimensional. I don't think your covers are the problem (I personally like your covers). Who knows? But there has to be some reason that people are not buying your books.
I don't know how much market research you originally did, but maybe you just need to do a little more in order to figure out what the successful authors in your chosen genre are doing right.
Find out what buyers want and give it to them.
If you had the cure for cancer, how much "marketing" would you have to do?
I did zero marketing. I didn't even have a Facebook, twitter or Web presence.
I really don't do any marketing at all.
Both @Held for Ransom and @ChickenHawk have clearly explained the "secret" behind their success:
I relied heavily on my ability to do market research...I am an expert in creating catchy titles, coming up with eye grabbing covers, writing enticing descriptions and hooking folks when they "Look Inside" at the first 10-12% of my books.
I just wrote the very best book I could in a niche that seemed to have a lot of buyers...I designed a professional-looking cover. I wrote a compelling blurb.
As far as I can see, here's the "easy button" everybody keeps looking for:
1. Research the market and find a genre full of hungry buyers.
2. Write the very best book you can write.
3. Create a professional looking cover.
4. Create a compelling blurb and "look inside" to entice readers into buying.
5. Rinse and repeat.
Simple? Yes. Easy? Hell No!
If it were easy, there would be no need for this thread and every book that we all write would shoot to the top of Amazon's bestseller list.
Let's not forget that @ChickenHawk ran into some of the same problems that the OP is having when she first started her fastlane journey. CH began by writing children's books (three or four of them if I remember correctly) that didn't sell as well as she had hoped they would. But, as far as I know (@ChickenHawk please correct me if I am wrong), she didn't sit around and try to figure out an "effective marketing startegy" to help increase her sales. Instead, she had a large enough catalog of work to realize that the children's genre wasn't profitable enough to waste any more of her time in.
I'll still chip away at genre and pen name #1, but I don't think this is the most profitable use of my time....I scored in the top 20 consistently for my sub-genre, but it didn't result in a ton of sales...This tells me that I'm playing in too shallow of a pond. People in my genre ARE making money, but even the top ones aren't necessarily hitting grand slams. In contrast, if I play in a deeper pond, there's a higher chance of more money flowing my way.
So, she did some more research and switched genres and pen names. It worked.
I sold about 30 copies during the first 24 hours and have a sales rank of about 7,000. This is so exciting, compared to the results in the other genre...Btw this is without any promotional activity, free giveaways, or purchases from friends or family.
Anyway, here's a quick view of the January stats
Books Sold: Approximately 12,900
Earnings: Approximately $25,400
Highest Earnings/Day: $1,475
Highest Rank: [HASHTAG]#114[/HASHTAG] in the Amazon Kindle store
Current Rank: About [HASHTAG]#200[/HASHTAG]
Then she wrote another book and became a respected Fastlane Legend.
Anyway, I write all of this to say that I believe @karmazon has a large enough catalog of books to realize that something obviously isn't working - and I don't think it has anything to do with marketing (or a lack thereof). There could be any number of problems (or a combination of problems): Maybe your writing books in the wrong genre, maybe you need to change the titles, maybe your blurbs aren't effective enough to make people want to buy, perhaps your writing style needs improvement, maybe your characters are flat and one dimensional. I don't think your covers are the problem (I personally like your covers). Who knows? But there has to be some reason that people are not buying your books.
I don't know how much market research you originally did, but maybe you just need to do a little more in order to figure out what the successful authors in your chosen genre are doing right.
My formula is simple.
Step 1 - Look at what is selling.
Step 2 - Come up with my own spin/version of it and sell it.
Find out what buyers want and give it to them.
If you had the cure for cancer, how much "marketing" would you have to do?
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