Okay, I’m going to be honest here. Last year when I quit my job to become a writer and writing coach, and then I re-read the Spy Thriller that I wrote for fun in 2016 – I never expected to publish it.
But here we are. It’s out there on Amazon Kindle for a reasonable £3.49, and I naively assumed that it would go up, there might be a flurry of interest from friends and family before it – like many self-published offerings – dwindled into insignificance.
What I didn’t realise was that it would stand a chance of becoming a Top 100 Espionage Thriller, of that I’d reach the four-figure rankings for Kindle books. It never once occurred to me to prepare for this. This book was never even written for publication. In Lies We Trust was a fun adventure I wrote in November 2016 during National Novel Writing Month after being challenged by my writing group to write outside of my typical genre. Well, a Spy Thriller was definitely something I’d never attempted before, and when I shared with them the two thousand words or so of my attempt – featuring an ex-undercover operative called Liz who had been mysteriously ‘reactivated’, kidnapped, and then shot at by a naked assassin – they wanted to know more. So, I just wrote more…No plotting, or planning, I let the story go wherever that day’s writing session took me.
Odd to admit now, that even *I* didn’t know which characters to trust as I put poor Liz through her paces, brought back an old flame, and put her sister and niece in danger. Yet, somehow, it worked. And when I re-read it last year I simply thought, “This is quite a fun read. I should put it out there for people to enjoy!”.
Well, I did. The book is currently languishing at 7,250 in the Kindle Store and is 174 in the rankings for Espionage Thrillers. And, I don’t know quite how to feel.
Releasing a self-published book is a pretty big deal in itself (though, not as big as getting an agent/publisher – in my mind anyway). Having people actually *buy* the book is gratifying and wonderful. Receiving positive feedback and messages from friends who’ve bought it saying they can’t put it down – again, amazingly satisfying. But, being striking distance from a Top 100 spot? That’s beyond my comprehension.
I keep trying to convince myself that the Amazon rankings don’t mean anything. They’re numbers; it doesn’t signify the quality of a story, or the writing. Yet, I can’t stop refreshing the page to see if I’ve made it yet. Am I a Top 100 ranking author? It’s almost like I don’t want to get sucked into the boastful ego-mania of being one of those authors – who can’t stop banging on about figures and their “over-night” success. But at the same time, isn’t this what writers dream of – seeing their books be sold and read by as many people as possible?
Granted, to be this high in the rankings doesn’t take a *lot* of sales. I know that. Most writers who’ve investigated self-publishing with Amazon Kindle know this – the sheer volume of books available on Kindle brings down the average sales per book. Yet with the target in sight I do want it. I hadn’t expected it, hadn’t anticipated that it would happen, but to see In Lies We Trust in the Top 100 Kindle rankings – even if just for an hour – would be a milestone I hadn’t even mapped onto my writing journey.
One thought on “New Goal: Kindle Top 100”
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Good article gives an insight into self publishing. I suppose increased sales are reliant on word of mouth and marketing. What you should do on the marketing side I have no idea except get some flyers made and hand them out to writers groups when Covid restrictions allow. Do that in person and people are more inclined to remember it. That’s the experience I found when I was publicising my play Bricks in Liverpool in 2016.You can push your book on social media, but over do it and you will put people off. You have to find the right balance. Would a separate twitter account for the book work? But just don’t tweet about the book.
I think it’s important to get your friends to post reviews on Amazon and goodreads. I’ll be buying the book but not just now, I still have 3 titles I haven’t started yet.