Indie Tuesday—Help! My Book and I Are Failures

by Charity Tinnin @CharityTinnin

I considered titling this post “How to Manage Your Expectations.” But, let’s be honest, that sounds too clinical. When sales aren’t meeting your goals, you and I are anything but clinical. “Help! My Book and I Are Failures” captures the panic a little better, don’t you think?

Let’s say, hypothetically, that you had a stellar release week for your indie debut. Ever since, however, you’re averaging one to four sales a week, and doubt creeps in. What if those sales dry up too? What if you don’t recoup your initial investment before book two? In fact, should you even bother with book two at this rate? 

At this point, you will be tempted to take advantage of the immediacy indie publishing allows. You can lower your pricing and change your Amazon or Barnes & Noble categories in less than five minutes. You can set up a Goodreads giveaway or buy a BookBub ad. Flood your Twitter or Facebook feed with ads. Maybe all of the above in the same weekend. Hypothetically speaking, of course.

Weekend Worship—Happy New Year!

Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:19

I love New Year’s Day. Not because of the partying and hoopla, but because it marks an end and a beginning. You see, by the time I get to the end of a year, no matter how many good things have happened, I feel dragged down by all the junk that has accumulated.

Those unfulfilled expectations.

The unrealized dreams (usually because I didn’t put in the necessary work).

All the people I’ve let down and who’ve let me down.

By the time December gets here, I can generally pull up enough stuff to depress an elephant. And even worse, it’s never a stretch to blame myself for ninety-nine percent of the failures. But January first gives me the opportunity to start over and begin again, hopefully a little wiser than the year before.

That’s what God is all about, second chances and new beginnings.

So as this New Year begins, join me in putting away the stuff from last year and resolve to begin again on a new year filled with hope and possibilities!