First Attempt in Learning

This was not the blog post that I had in mind, not was it one of the ones on my backlog of posts to be written. However, it feels as though this is the right time to post it.

The first month of the year is almost over, and so far, my decision to change the way I manage my own life has had very mixed effects.

On a personal level, I have changed my way to thinking, at least, I am trying to. I am trying to clear my mind, accept that some things will not always go as planned. I have changed my work out style and even started doing some yoga and things in the morning. I am feeling better than ever, and the fact that I herniated a disc in my back last week is completely by-the-by. I am off to the chiropractor on Thursday and have enough drugs to keep me happy until then.

Book Sales Surprise and an Unexpected Pattern

On the writing front, I have noticed a very strange circumstance. I am not doing anywhere near as much book promotion as I was last year. I have put maybe a dozen links on Facebook and Google + this year, and send a few a day out on Twitter (although today I hit twitter like a demon). My sales as a result have been surprisingly high. Better than the last several months put together.

The numbers are no great, and not even good, but there was a 14 day run of consecutive sales, multiple sales on several of those days. This was pleasing, especially given how little work I was doing for it.

I know this cannot continue, but I need to rethink my branding and marketing strategy, and it is taking me a long time to get anything effective put together.

All of my books are now enrolled in the KU (Kindle Unlimited) program, and as such are available for free for all of those Amazon Prime members out there. What I have seen is that there is a pretty even split in the number of borrows compared to the number of sales I have had.

A lot of these borrows have come on 99 cent short stories – namely the erotic pieces I have published under my pseudonym. This actually is a double win. My work is getting read, and people are coming back for more, and I am earning more money, because the return on a borrow is more than the royalty on a sale (at 99cents).

Blogging is Where the Problems seem to Dwell

The biggest failure I seem to have had is on this blog. I have been posting regularly, trying to post every 2 days, and am promoting each post across the social media platforms, but my visits are way down, and most of my posts are struggling to even hit double figures. This surprises me, as I am trying to make them more structure, and also to cover topics that are at least readable, and not always all about me – barring a little link to my books at the end of the posts.

I finished 2014 on a high with my blog, and with the new approach, I was seriously expecting to see good returns. I am reading all of the blog posts that I subscribe to – although with my bad back I am about a week behind, but I have them all to read – and am commenting on each one. I have had some great engagement on other people’s blogs, but there is zero evidence of anything coming through my way. Even new subscribers is down.

This is a troubling trend and something I need to rectify. I fear that it may have something do to with the next blog post I have scheduled – which talks about how I am using Facebook differently now. If that is the case, then it presents a troubling proposition, but I shall cross that bridge once we get to it.

Failure is a Learning Opportunity, Not a Reason to Stop

Whatever the cause it, there is a remedy to it, and I will find it. I will not let a small issue such as this derail me. I am a firm believer that failing is important. If we never fail, we can never achieve anything in life. Sure, my attempts at change this year, on the blogging side of things may be a failure, they may also just be slow to take effect. In any case, I will monitor the situation, make adjustments and keep tinkering until I find the winning formula.

Every time we fail, we learn, and in essence, that means we never truly fail. The only way that is possible is to quit, and that is something I will never do, and neither should you.

Thanks for reading!

Reading Material?

Do you fancy giving one of my books a try? Come on over to my author page on Amazon and take your pick. I have novels such as Highway to Hell and Blood of the Tainted, through my chapter book zombie series, Diaries of the Damned.

The majority of my books are enrolled in the Kindle Unlimited program, so if you are an Amazon Prime member, you can read them for free!