JUNE UPDATE: 8,985 books sold in June. OVER 300,000 books sold as of June
30, 2012
DON’T LET LARGE SALES NUMBERS DEPRESS YOU, LET THEM INSPIRE
AND MOTIVATE!
To all writers out there who aren’t seeing great
sales yet, I want to say use big sales numbers you see reported to motivate and
inspire. For instance, Bella Andre sold over 90,000 books in the month of June alone.
I am super excited for her. This is great news for indie authors. I don’t know
Bella but she seems like a happy, friendly person and she obviously works hard
and knows how to tell a story.
There are indie authors out there who are selling more than 90,000
books a month. There will always be somebody with more sales than you. There will
always be authors out there making more money, too.
For nearly 20 years, I didn’t make a dime, not one cent, but
I kept writing because it’s what I love to do. I was and am lucky enough to
have a husband who works hard to keep a roof over our heads, but an extra paycheck over the past 20 years would have been nice, too.
Writing books and having my stories read by hundreds of readers
was my dream and still is. I am now lucky enough to have the time to write, although
it wasn’t always that way. Like many of you I struggled with finding balance
between working outside of the house, writing, and raising kids. I put in my 10,000
hours (multiplied by 2 or 3) and now it’s paying off.
If you want something bad enough, you’ll work for it and you
won’t give up. Writing a novel with tension and conflict and interesting
characters is not easy. It’s definitely not a career for the faint of heart. Passion
and determination is what it takes to keep many writers in front of the
computer day after day.
Don’t let other writers’ large numbers of sales and big
paychecks make you feel like you’re doing something wrong. Let it motivate you
and challenge you to write the best damn book you can!
