Falling Sales

Arielle Haughee

Why do I sell fewer books
​with each release?

You released your first book. Everyone celebrated and bought a copy. Your mom, your neighbors, your dog. You worked hard and now it’s time for book number two to come out. You’ve told everyone and blasted your cover all over the place. The big day arrives and you constantly refresh Amazon, waiting for the big bars to appear on the graph. 
Except they never come. 
You do have some sales, but nowhere near as much as the first time. You check social media. Did your posts get hidden? People are commenting with “congratulations,” but they don’t seem to be buying your book. 
Fast forward to book three. 
This time it’s even worse. Almost no sales and everyone ignores your social media posts. What’s going on? Why isn’t anyone buying your book?
Unfortunately, this is a common trend. Many authors become disenchanted, depressed, and even angry at this point. Friends and family aren’t buying your book. You worked so hard and it seems like the people you care about don’t support you. 

My Own Experience with the Fewer Sales Trend

I’ve done over a dozen book releases and stared at the Amazon graph, begging for more. It hurt the most with my third picture book. I spent... a lot...paying for quality illustrations and printing, way more than I spent producing other books. Pub day came and went, and almost none of my family and friends were interested. Now I had 1,000 books sitting in a warehouse. 
Why weren’t they buying my book? 

The More-Books-Less-Party Effect

What your family and friends are doing when they get your first book is celebrating an accomplishment with you. Imagine having a party for getting a big promotion. You invite everyone to the party and have a full house in attendance, all there to cheer for you. 
Now let’s say you’re going to have another promotion party one month later. Some people will come, but not the big crowd like before. Most people rationalize that they’ve already congratulated you. 
You know where I’m going with a third party. 

The Difference Between a Friend and a Fan

You can usually count on family and friends to support you for one book, most likely your first. After that, people think they’ve already “congratulated” you and won’t purchase subsequent books. Books are also subject to personal taste and if your friend didn’t know the author, they would never have purchased your genre of book. 
That is the difference between a friend and a fan. Friends love you, but fans love your work. Fans want more of it. 

Breaking Out of the Bubble

All authors start their marketing with their bubble of familiarity. This includes friends and family. It’s a great place to start, but it is a limited number of people with diminishing returns. You have to break out of the bubble and find fans in order to sell more books. 
The first thing you need to do is identify your audience. Who will truly be interested in your book? Let’s say you write fantasy. Brainstorm where fantasy readers hang out and go to buy books. You can look for Facebook groups, visit a local comic store, check out YouTube channels, study Amazon ads...whatever you have the time, energy, and skill to do. 
For my third picture book, I had to double down on my marketing to schools and get creative. I advertised on teacher websites and connected with mommy bloggers. I stopped focusing so much on social media posts, and spent that time learning more about Amazon ads. I busted through that bubble because I couldn’t afford to pay ware fees forever. 
It takes time and effort to reach your true audience, I won’t deny that. But the more things you do, the more likely you are to sell books. And try not to be hurt or upset about family and friends. They aren’t intentionally being hurtful, they’ve just already been to your party. Now it’s time for you to create your own party and pop that bubble!

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Previously an elementary teacher, Arielle Haughee (Hoy) is a multi-genre author living in Florida. She has a serious reading addiction, fantasy romance her absolute favorite, and loves nothing more than good conversation paired with a good wine. She is surrounded by males at home—a husband, two sons, and an energetic dog—and tries to integrate as much purple and flowers in the house as possible.
Arielle is an editor, speaker, and owner of a small press. 
Learn more about her at www.ariellehaughee.com or www.orangeblossombooks.com. She is also on Facebook and Instagram (@orange_blossom_books).