Sales were… brutal. Like, curl-up-under-the-desk-and-question-everything brutal. 

Honestly, August hit me hard. I discovered halfway through the month that I’d completely forgotten to reset my Amazon ad end date. Yep… ads off, visibility tanked, sales plummeted. OMG! From now on, those ads are staying ON, no excuses.

I did decide to be a little more strategic, though, keeping active ads only on the Lupita book and my herb series. And once I fixed the end date, things picked up a tiny bit… but let’s be real: it was still one of the lowest months of my author career. That stings.

Now, here’s the small silver lining: I’ve been testing out some revamped social media content, and there’s been a noticeable bump in engagement, mostly on Bluesky and Instagram. More follows, more likes, more conversations. Will that translate into better book sales? Well… let’s just say I’m cautiously optimistic, but not holding my breath.

I’ll be honest and let you know that the discouragement is real. I’ve been putting in extra hours this year, pushing harder than ever with marketing, and yet my royalties barely register anymore. And of course, the questions swirl:

• Is it my material?
• Has my work stopped resonating?
• Or is it just… the economy?

My main market is still the U.S., where so many people are struggling just to survive. When disposable income disappears, books are often the first luxury to go. 

But here’s the thing, I’m not giving up. Writing is what I do, what I love. And even if the road feels bumpy right now, I have to believe this is just one rough chapter, not the whole book.

What keeps you going when you feel like you are screaming into the void as a writer?

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Book Hawking: A Beginner’s Guide to Marketing Your Self-Published Book is your roadmap to turning your hidden gem into a must-read!