Wednesday, August 14, 2024

Technical difficulties

Argh! Amazon!

I'm not sure if you know this, but part of my business model is advertising my books on Amazon. It works pretty well, as a rule - who knows what we like better than Amazon? 

About 10 days ago, however, that changed. Amazon had what they're calling a "glitch" with their US ads. They claim it's been fixed and will just take some time to trickle down, but I'm skeptical. Forgive me.

Normally 75-80% of my sales are in the US; currently it's 40%. And that's not because the other countries have stepped up. 

Right before things crashed, I started a new automatically-targeted ad for my Ava and Claire books. When it spent my full ad budget for 3 days running without a single sale, I checked the targeting (the search terms Amazon applies to the book) and WTF??

Dog training. Furniture refinishing. Psychological thrillers. True crime. 

Umm, no. That doesn't come close to my 1930s sister stories about hard times and resilient women. 

Anyway, this is a long way round to say if you've ever been interested in buying one of my books, now would be an excellent time because my income is going to be around my ankles this month otherwise. 

https://books2read.com/karenheenan

Kindle Unlimited counts. Library borrows count -- did you know you could request my paperbacks from your library? Actually, at this point, thinking good thoughts about the algorithm also counts. Thank you from the bottom of my stressed writer's heart.


2 comments:

Carol in Denver said...

I like your blog but in general don't care for historical fiction. However, reading your blog post this morning about your book with sisters intrigued me and I ordered it from my library. From my point of view, the covers on your books do them no favors. For me, they are a turn off.

Karen said...

Sorry to hear of your difficulties. Read your sisters series through Kindle Unlimited a few months ago - enjoyed them. Glad to know that benefits the author, even though it’s to a lesser degree than purchasing I suspect.