# Three Purchases On First Week



## Tatham (Feb 1, 2014)

My book has been out for a little more than a week now, on Amazon. The day I released it there were three people there and ready to purchase a copy. I know one of these people, but the other two are a mystery. More so, a copy was purchased from somebody in the US; being in the UK I was over the moon. I couldn't be more grateful to these people for taking the time to read my book.

Now for the downside. I've hit a wall. These sales have totally frozen and no readers seem interested in my book. Family, friends and the everyday customer. I've since filmed a promotional advertisement on my Youtube page but that hasn't helped at all. Even in conversation, most don't seem interested, or they say they'll buy it... eventually, but they hardly seem eager about it. I do have some other friends who have been encouraging me, but they're not readers so I don't encourage them to give it a hit; even then, they still keep me motivated as best they can. My girlfriend, however, mother of my two children, never did really encourage me while writing it, and now that it's finished she's even worse and still sees it as a passing fad of some kind; I'll come back down to earth soon, to reality. Heck, I take nigh total credit for the completion of my book; four years of conceptual designing, research, writing, editing, proof reading and artwork. A few people read snippets, one even critiqued and proof read the first chapter and included notes, but besides that it was all me.

Disheartened but not completely beaten, I'm still working on the next novel, regardless. Despite all of this, I still have faith in my work even if others don't. But how can I improve on this? I've advertised where I can without getting banned. Tagging threads make me feel dirty, spamming. And I'm still new to Youtube. Any ways any of you fine folks know on how I could get the word out?


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## escorial (Feb 1, 2014)

well done..onwards an upwards dude.


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## TWErvin2 (Feb 1, 2014)

There is no easy answer. There's a flood of titles published every week, and getting noticed is difficult. One way is that you might try finding bloggers that do reviews, and see if they would be interested in reading/reviewing your novel. Most are inundated with requests, but if you don't try, you'll never know. Your work might strike their interest.  Keep writing and good luck!


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## spartan928 (Feb 1, 2014)

1200 fiction titles self-published a day. Yeah, a little competition. That's what your up against. Rising to the top of the cream takes a lot of work and an effort to build relationships with readers. You can do that by getting involved with sites, forums and groups related to your genre. Then get others to read and endorse your book with positive reviews. Pound the pavement of your community and have a book release media event or party. Sell it.


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## Caragula (Feb 2, 2014)

Has anyone critiqued it?


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## Gavrushka (Feb 2, 2014)

You're working on the next book now? What have you changed from that one to this?

I think I am right in saying you see three sales as a failure, but I don't know what you would have considered a success. - I did notice that your subject matter fell into a very popular category that is massively oversubscribed with substandard dross that could well be burying yours, however much merit there are within your words.

Now, you can concentrate on marketing your published book, work on your new one or spread your time between the two... - My suggestion is to start by an analysis of your existing prose. - Post an excerpt on here, and let a few critique it... THEN, with that critique in mind, post an excerpt of your WIP, and lets see how we can help improve it...

IF you receive a positive critique on your published book, then I suggest you offer it FREE for a few days and then put the price back up...- I did look at the price you had set, and I think it is far too high - You're unproven and more expensive than many best selling authors!!

Don't embrace despair, but do learn from all that has happened. - We here can help analyse your prose, but only you can tinker with your marketing strategy. - At the minute, you're an unknown, so empathise with potential readers and minimise the financial risk to them. Such is the price elasticity on Amazon that halving the price could well quadruple sales. - And offering it free for a while will create a sound platform of critiques to build upon IF your words have value.


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## qwertyman (Feb 2, 2014)

Hi, first of all congratulations for completing your book.

I read your post and thought, as long as it’s not fantasy, I’ll buy it.

Okay, it is fantasy, so I just looked at the preview.

*You should’a gone to an editor!!*

Here’s your first line…

_Rich sanguine soiled his hands drying between the cracks of his fingers as he buried the blade deep into his prey._

Sanguine, in all common usage is an adjective not a noun. Its prime meaning is optimistic or confident.

Here’s line three…

_…skinning them alive for the lush of their fat. _

‘Lush’, is an adjective unless you are using American slang in which case it's a noun and means a female alcoholic.

Here’s line nine…

_The perfection of the huntsman’s aim pierced its windpipe._

The arrow pierced the windpipe, not the aim. Confusion, is the Imp killed by an arrow or a blade or both? If the blade and the arrow are the same, why is he burying the blade in line one and  an _arrow tearing effortlessly through merciless winds,_ in line five

 ***
There’s more in those first  ten lines that an editor, *who is not a friend or relative*, would comment on.

Withdraw it, get it edited properly and try again.  I can see you're not a quitter, so good luck with it.


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## Gavrushka (Feb 2, 2014)

qwertyman said:


> ...
> 
> Withdraw it, get it edited properly and try again.  I can see you're not a quitter, so good luck with it.



Post the first 1,000 words or so in the Prose Writer's Workshop, Tatham, and I'd be happy to take a look as, I am sure, others will too.


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## Tatham (Feb 2, 2014)

Thanks for the feedback. Yes, looking at it that way I really should have found an editor. I just thought four years working on it, two of which I spent editing, was enough for me and I was happy with what I had. Not planning on editing again myself, that's for sure. I'm not giving up on my series, even if it falls into a cliche market. I've posted the entire second chapter in the Fantasy forum section if you want to have a look, Gavrushka. The second chapter is set not too long before the first so you shouldn't feel lost while reading it.

Qwertyman: I used sanguine, referring to the shade of red. I'm going to get my book looked at, professionally edited. You're right, I'm not going to give up on it. Thank you for your honesty


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