Lessons Learned from Launching 7 Kickstarter Campaigns
Why Your Book Sales Numbers Tell Only Half the Story
Book Sales Don’t Tell the Full Story
Indie authors, mainly, love to focus on SALES as a measure of success. Authors must understand that there are many models and paths to publication.
How many books did you sell? What’s your Amazon Best Seller Ranking?
A great benefit to social media is that we can connect with fellow authors around the world and learn what they are doing.
However, there is a dark side to seeing too often what our fellow authors are doing.
It can feel a bit disappointing to think that your well-written, professionally edited, and beautiful books are super successful only to see a Facebook post by another author with better book sales numbers.
It is hard not to allow doubt to creep into the picture if your amazing book isn’t selling as well as the rather mediocre books that claim to be “bestsellers.”
“Comparison is the thief of joy.”—Theodore Roosevelt

Think back to the pre-Internet era where writers could keep their heads down and clack on typewriter keys until something slightly publishable emerged.
Professional comparisons and rivalries still happened to the likes of Hemingway and Fitzgerlad, sure, but they weren’t reading daily claims of literary success by their peers in closed Facebook groups.
Perhaps that’s why Thoreau isolated himself on Walden Pond.
He was probably tired of seeing others’ books sales and massive book tours plastered all over his Facebook newsfeed.
“I find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time.”
Henry David Thoreau
Maybe we should all find a virtual cabin in the woods. A place where we are insulated from Facebook notifications, and indie book sales brags.
If you find yourself peeking over at other author’s shoulders more often than writing your work, it might be time to turn OFF all social media notifications until your writing is solidly underway.
Comparison Can Be Useful
Sometimes, what we don’t know does hurt us. Knowledge is paramount to remove fictitious barriers we construct that block us from success.
For example, before I met children’s book authors Laurie Wright and Diane Alber, I had no idea that it was feasible to sell 50-100 books/day per title.
I had no idea.
After hiring them as mentors and learning from them, I discovered how much effort and marketing dollars go into getting those numbers. Without that knowledge, I wouldn’t know it was possible.
While knowledge is vital, we’ll still make mistakes even with those expert insights from mentors plowing the field before us.
Authors Don’t Usually Discuss Their Marketing Spend
One thing that many authors keep close to their vests is the amount of money they put into marketing.
Authors are thrilled to share their sales numbers, but they remain reluctant to share their ad spend. Why?
Well, it’s a lovely thought to believe that our books are selling well because they are wonderfully written, well-edited, and professionally illustrated or designed and NOT because we’re spending tons of money to market them.
But in many cases, mediocre books with large marketing budgets will routinely outsell beautiful, well-written books with smaller marketing budgets.
That’s how marketing works.
It takes a lot of money to stand out in front of potential readers in a crowded market.
For example, to market my Halloween book, I spent $5k on Amazon and Facebook ads over a six-week marketing blitz. I had studied, planned, and added fuel to the fire when my return on advertising was optimal. My SALES were terrific.
However, sales are only half of the picture.
If you looked at my balance sheet and saw all of the expenses I incurred to achieve those sales, you’d have a different story. You’d have the whole story.

Don’t Let Comparison Steal Your Joy
So, in summary, comparing your progress to others’ can be a learning experience.
It’s important to be inspired by other authors’ success, but you can’t dwell in that space for long.
If you can’t help comparing yourself to someone, it’s better to become a measuring stick yourself. Compare your book sales with your previous years’ book sales.
If you have a seasonal book, use your first year as a baseline to compare future sales so you can see where you can improve.
Keep track of your monthly sales and marketing efforts so you can try to identify what techniques or marketing outlets were fruitful and which ones to drop for next time.
We are fortunate to be working in a medium that never expires, and books that are over 30 years old can be at the top of the bestseller charts.
Remember, it’s never too late to be a bestseller, so don’t let comparison rob you of your joy.
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4 Tips to Delegate More Tasks as a Writer

What tasks should you delegate as a writer? Jana Buchmann has 4 tips that will help you be more effective and productive in your writing business.
How many hats are you wearing?
It’s inevitable. As a small business owner (and you ARE a business owner as an author who wants to sell books), you will wear many, many hats.
Writer.
Marketing manager.
Bookkeeper.
Content developer.
Coach.
Technical support staff.
But while this type of task juggling is to be expected, you have to be aware that not all of your hats are created equal.
Marketing outweighs bookkeeping, for example, because without marketing, there will be no cash to manage.
Not only that, but you have to consider how much time you’re spending in each area as well. If you spend all day tweaking the design on your website and put off sending an email to your list, what have you gained?
Sure, you might have a prettier website, but you lost an opportunity to drive traffic to your offer.
Delegate more tasks as a writer
There comes a time in every entrepreneurial venture where you realize you simply cannot do it all yourself.
Sure, when you’re just getting started you really are the “chief, cook and bottle washer.”
But as your business grows, it becomes painfully obvious that trying to do everything is only going to lead to:
- Frustration (when critical tasks don’t get done and deadlines are missed)
- Burn out (when you’re working yet another 12-hour day)
- Overwhelm (when your to-do list is longer at the end of the day than it was at the beginning)
There are many ways to combat this business-growth hurdle, but one of the best tools is automation.
Imagine a completely hands-off system that works for you even when you’re hiking on a remote mountain or lounging at a spa.
But here’s an even better reason to automate: it lets you scale your writing business.
Think about it, the less manual work you have to do, the more time you have to do the money-making tasks such as networking, marketing, and most important: WRITING.
What should you automate?
You can automate almost everything, but start with:
Email Funnels
What happens when a new subscriber joins your mailing list? Do they just sit in waiting on your list until you have time to send an email?
While broadcast emails have their place—especially in time-sensitive promotions—be sure to also set up an autoresponder series. You will want to set up this series to tell the reader more about you and give them that freebie they signed up for.
Chances are if they signed up, they already read something of yours they enjoyed and would like to learn more about you.
You can tell them more about the progress on your next book for a few days or share some illustrations to entice them. You can give away the first book in your series.
No matter what you use the autoresponder for, just make sure you’re starting that relationship.
And the best thing?
Once your autoresponder is set up, it will continue to work even when you’re not. MailChimp or Mailerlite are great options with free plans.
Email is a great task delegate as a writer so you can focus on creating more content.
Social Media Management
Yes, it’s important to be personable and engaging on social media, but that doesn’t mean you have to log in to Facebook just to post a link to your latest blog or be on Instagram all the time.
Automate that kind of update and save yourself hours of time each and every month. Not only that, but you won’t have to worry about missing an update, either! Check out the free plans of Buffer or Hootsuite.
There are dozens of options for automating every aspect of your small business. As you grow, you’ll find new and better tools to make everything run more smoothly.
But there is one thing you need to think about: You really can’t do it all alone.
No small business becomes a big business with a single person at the wheel.
It takes a team of experts to scale your efforts.
How to build a team
The problem is, building that team brings its own stress.
How can you know who to trust? Where will you find the time to explain your needs? What if you can’t afford to outsource?
These and other questions are what can prevent you from growing your sales and leveraging successful marketing. Here’s what to do about it.

Know Your Personal Work Style & Preferences
Not everyone works in a similar style. Some people love to touch base by phone, while others prefer email.
Some people require a couple of coordination meetings, others work better when you leave them alone until they have some results.
No way is right or wrong, but if you’re a phone person and you hire an email lover, there’s going to be conflict.
Look for team members who are a fit with your preferred work style, and you’ll be much happier with the end result.
Start small
Start by hiring one person to take on the tasks you most dislike, then slowly grow your team and their responsibilities.
Eventually, you’ll be left with only the work you truly want to do and that you enjoy: WRITING! (and your author’s business will run even more smoothly).
When you delegate as a writer, you avoid Shiny Object Syndrome, prevent writer’s burnout, and get more readers subscribing to your emails.
Bio

Jana Buchmann is a children’s book author assistant who takes on the tasks you don’t want to do so you can focus on writing.
Jana is a specialized author assistant who understands the importance of engaging regularly with readers and helps authors maintain their newsletters, social media, and ads.
Learn more about Jana’s author services here: https://www.jbauthorservices.com/