Please vote for The Grim Reaper: And Company! here: https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/X0Z1F8GSDDVB
Going into this, I knew there would be high points and low points. A few days ago was a high point. Today is a low point. The paid advertising has ended and I’ve exhausted my ideas. Yesterday I even started a Facebook game (totally unsuccessful) and put up a personality quiz (only mildly successful) based on the book. But the past couple days have seen me only at about 25 views per day. More than that, I’ve fallen from the first page.
The good news is that I’ve already gotten more views than I’ve heard of some people getting their entire campaign. But a lot of those views have not translated to votes. I’m lagging, and it’s killing my chances.
This is a terrible situation to be in. I’ve only been campaigning for about a week. It’s been long enough to make a difference, but there’s so much ahead of me that I don’t know what to do. Should I look for a way to pull out? Should I tweet Neil Gaiman and ask for help? Should I buy a little more advertising?
The implications only get worse. Am I a failure as an author because I obviously can’t get people interested in my books? I do earn money for my writing–I get a check or two a month for $5-20, not much but consistent and growing in price and frequency. Maybe this book was just a bad idea. My biggest competitor (someone who started the same day I did, is in the same genres and has been hot and trending since day one) wrote a book about a teen girl in a dystopian world who deals with gender and identity crises. That sounds like a string of keywords saying, “Read-this-book-it’s-bound-to-be-the-next-hit!” Especially compared to mine, a book about the Grim Reaper’s trials in dealing with others. No one cares about the Grim Reaper. No one thinks about him or even wants to.
Kindle Scout has selected odd books before. One of their earliest picks was titled Pit Bulls Vs. Aliens, or something like that, and that’s exactly what it was about. Maybe I should have submitted a couple years ago when no one else knew about it.
Either way, unless something dramatic happens or I come up with an idea that actually does go viral, I think I’m done for. If this were a reality TV show I’d be looking at being eliminated next week, and that’s not a fun feeling–especially knowing that I’ll still have to tag along for the rest of the competition.
Please comment below to let me know if you have any ideas for spreading the word!