The state of Hold on to Your Horses
Yesterday was a neighborhood potluck picnic in our cul de sac. I love this kind of event. It is wonderful to sit and talk with all the friends that I see in passing, but never have time to really talk to. One friend asked about how Hold on to Your Horses is doing, so I pulled out one of my advance copies to show her. The book kicked around with me for the rest of the evening and several more people read it. Everyone was very complimentary, which was very nice. A couple of people asked when it is going to be available for sale. I told them I expect the truck to arrive next week. I was asked how many books I’d ordered. 2000. I was asked how many I’ve pre-sold. 100. There was a small sound of dismay from the group. Then they ask what I’m going to do next. That is a harder question to answer. Not because I don’t have an answer, but because the answer would require a lecture on basic internet marketing. The didn’t come to a picnic for a lecture and I didn’t want to dominate the conversation, so I mumbled some stuff about blogs and Amazon.com. Then the topic moved on to other things.
Truth is, I’m disheartened that I haven’t sold more copies of Hold Horses yet. I know logically that there is no rush, but I really want this project to be a self-publishing success story rather than the story of a woman who sunk $5000 into printing and now has thousands of books sitting in her basement. I can still get where I want to be, but there is going to be additional work involved. I figure I’ll do my next marketing push after the books arrive. “Buy it now” is much more attractive than “Give me your money and I’ll send you a book in three weeks.” Also, once I have books in hand I can start sending copies to places where the book might garner attention. Perhaps I can volunteer to do an appearance or story time at the library. There are articles that I intend to write, which could potentially help bring attention to the book. 700 books sold is my success mark. At that point, the print run will be paid for and anything beyond that is extra. That is also more than most self-published books ever sell, so I can count it as a success that way as well.
Time to get back to work.