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Indie authors: what to do if you can't sell the book?








The average indie author doesn't earn much. He has a problem with selling books and usually, the sale is about 5 books per month. 

On other hand, indie authors do many investments. You need to pay the editor, covers, and book promotion, and if you can't format the book alone, you will also pay for it.

If you want to get a review, you will struggle to cooperate with other authors, read their books or talk mouth by mouth in the hope to sell something.

The result is: you can't sell the book even to get small money, and especially, you can't earn from books enough to quit your regular job.

The conclusion :

You will spend more money than you earn.

Most of your money will never get back.

You will buy your own books.

You will have a problem with selling paperback versions of books, these are the hardest to sell.

What is the solution?

You had a dream to sign your book in the local library, give autographs in public promotions, and people are standing in line to get your book. Your book is material for the move, and then you get rich.


The reality is: your books are not selling. Someone will spend a dollar to get a book from time to time, but this is the highest you will go.

Would you give up on this expensive hobby?

Many authors are writing because they have an inner need to write. They want to spit out their stories, based on experiences, to share with an audience. They have a need to get listeners because it makes feel easier.

Giving up on writing means this sharing with the audience is over, you must focus on your real job and forget about writing.

When time is passing, and you realize you can't sell the book, you will slowly retreat. People are ignoring you, so what can you do?

Indie authors are many, the competition is big, and only rare will get success. If you want to manage like Anna Todd, you must catch the stroke of good luck. She started on Wattpad and people read her stories, later on, she got a movie adaptation of her series After. 

Well, when I tried on Wattpad I got only a bunch of spammers and horny men who wanted to chat with me. 

The choice is yours, accept reality or give up.

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Comments

DL Bigelow said…
So very true Kristina, but many adventures like that become personal experiences. It is like taking up scuba diving and finding a remote land to dive in. There is a truth that more than likely, you're the first person to see what is under that water. It has to become something your heart desires to experience, because it is difficult to explain what you see there. I write because my characters demand it, and for a time, I am there with them, but they tug at me to continue, and that's why I write. DL Bigelow
27 July 2021 at 03:37
Richard Gardner said…
I've never sold a book--to be fair, I've never tried! But, to my eyes, simply through looking at people's sites and books via Twitter, a fair number of indie writers sell theirselves short with presentation. The more professional a product looks, surely, the more likely it will be to sell? We all read tons of books for research, but not many seem to research advertising, graphic design and web design. I know there are many people who like the "indie" vibe (as they do with music), but if sales are important then the majority of people look for something that is professionally produced and make the effort to give them what they want.
23 October 2021 at 00:33
Eva Pasco said…
Each sporadic read and review is incentive to keep going. The real drive for me is the story within dying to get out.
15 December 2021 at 12:09
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