“I went to a bus station crammed with buses, but only got on the one going my way.” – Roy Stolworthy
So saith a self-published writer on LinkedIn in a discussion I saw recently. A member of one of the writers’ groups asked whether there were too many authors, and if so, was that the reason why they did not sell very many books? A couple of replies were to the effect that authors write what they want to write about, and so possibly might fail to write about what is actually trending. Another, Roy Stolworthy, wrote that he went to a bus station crammed with buses, but only got on the one which was going his way.
I liked the last reply. It says a lot. Readers will buy books based on their genre preferences. I prefer to write novels about family dramas which some call ‘women’s fiction’, so therefore, in theory, should my books appeal to half of the entire world’s population? It would be great if they did, but as I’m not yet up there in the best-seller lists, maybe some of the women are catching a different bus!
What do you think? Are there too many authors? I’m starting to think along the lines that no, there are not too many authors, but maybe there are too many free books available. Readers tend to favour the free books instead of paying even $0.99 for one. Therefore authors will see decreased sales, although I do tend to see a spike in purchased books when my own KDP free promotions end. However, I have reduced the number of days that my books are given away for free now. After ‘A House Without Windows’ was free for a weekend in April I had over 1100 downloads and 15 verified purchases the next day, but after ‘Revenge’ was free for a weekend recently I only had 12 downloads and no verified purchases afterwards. There is no rhyme or reason to it, but I still think it’s the number of free books available that might be causing a lack of sales for some authors.
I’d welcome comments on this topic. ‘A House Without Windows’ is more of a thriller/suspense, whereas ‘Revenge’ is more women’s fiction, so again perhaps the thriller genre is more popular. There’s my answer then – I need to catch the correct bus and write another thriller!
Stevie Turner 
Great write-up, I am regular visitor of one’s blog, maintain up the excellent operate, and It’s going to be a regular visitor for a long time.
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Thanks for your comment. I’m glad that you’re enjoying my blogs!
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I do notice the same Stevie. After a free promo my other books start selling and then a lull til the next promo. There are definitely too many free books, but how else are we supposed to get visibility if we don’t do a promo once in awhile to get our books seen.
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Therein lies the eternal problem!
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Oh, the enigma of Amazon 🙂
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Not being an author myself I’m commenting from that most useful of positions: absolutely no knowledge of what I’m talking about. Is this an issue caused by the onset of digital publishing and the relative ease with which writers can publish their own work? The traditional model of finding a publisher willing to invest in you, as a writer, is not as prevalent as it used to be. I compare this to music, where although there are some who self-publish the majority of releases are still made by record companies. I.e. there is someone acting as a control over what is available for us humble consumers to purchase. I must admit to avoiding most of the free books if they are by writers I know nothing about, as there is some real dross out there!
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Probably the digital publishing issue isn’t helping either. Yes, everyone is an author these days!
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Thanks for your comment. I’m rapidly coming to the conclusion that many readers wait for free books to become available rather than buy them. If people are using your free coupons, then obviously they are interested. The market is saturated with free books and readers are grabbing them by the handful.
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Thank you so much for this post! It really made a lot of sense. My book was a personal testimony book about faith and MS. So perhaps It had too narrow of a focus. Not sure. I’ve sent out many copies of the paperback version and given away many coupons for a free download. I targeted the organizations that cater to MS, faith organizations, and people in the blogosphere. But nothing seems to be moving forward.
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