I'm thinking instead of doing an Amazon preorder on my next book (end of January) I would rather push my newsletter and socials to my store and train them to buy direct. For a couple of weeks before the release date on 'Zon when the book goes into KU, when they buy the paperback, I would give them the ebook for free so they can read anywhere. If they buy the ebook they just get the ebook. Am I missing anything? Cons especially?

OMG, it's the 15th and we are IN IT. How's it going? Where are you stuck? How can we help? :D <3

On the 4th, I got restricted on my personal account which means I can’t do anything at all - literally anything at all - with the business tools. I had one ad running with a budget higher than I normally would run because I *was* promoting something. And I had another ad running that was promoting a free book. The free book ended on the 5th and yet that ad is still going and I can’t stop it. So I’m losing money every day. I have tried reaching out to meta to find out how long this is gonna last or if it’s permanent. I’m not getting any answers. Today I finally disconnected PayPal so at least they might stop if they don’t get paid. I have a newsletter that people engage with, but do not buy from. I post a gazillion times a day on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. I have an arc team, but I feel like in a way I’m just giving free books to my loyal readers. The only thing that was moving the needle was meta ads. And I have a new book dropping Thursday that I can’t do anything to promote. Not gonna lie this is kicking my emotional butt.

Where are you? Check your goal and where you are now. Then CELEBRATE Even if you went backwards 😆 And I'd love to see pictures of your celebration/dream board! I'm at 315 preorders, so not at 2000 YET but I am celebrating that I do have more preorders than when I started AND I'm celebrating all the steps I took to move forward. I can only control my mindset and my actions, and I am doing that, so I'm celebrating the messy middle! I'm still visualizing 2,000 pre-orders, and following the nudges to move forward (I set up more newsletter swaps for the pre-order, I'm testing blurbs and playing with hooks, also re-editing the book with @Stasia Black's most excellent line edits. I'm going to schedule more newsletters to go out through the end of the month. I'm booking more promo for other books in the series. I am putting them on sale with updated back matter that points to the pre-order. I also increased ad budget to those. And I am expecting a miracle! But that's how it works--you imagine your goal become reality, take all the baby steps you can, but also expect to get lucky. LOL It only takes one viral reel to get the attention of bigger influencers who might fall in love with your books forever. It only takes one ad to catch the imagination of a bookstore owner who wants to showcase your work. When I was a baby author, I did one promo and got a raving fan who buys absolutely everything I sell, likes and comments on every post I post, and sends my kids care packages 4 to 8 times a year!!!! Seriously, between her and my family, my husband and I rarely buy the kids clothes. Expect the magic! Picture of my new candle/perfume splurge!

Fun fact: you can get all excited, decide on a course of action, and before you take your first step things fall apart. - kids get sick - car breaks down - you upload the wrong cover or manuscript - Someone hates on your viral reel - Amazon shenanigans For me, this looked like an email from Amazon, telling me my book was non-compliant and they're kicking it out of KU. This it the book I was going to advertise to increase pre-orders. I once heard a coach say, millionaires have millionaire problems. When I first got started, the problems I dealt with seemed insurmountable, but then I grew more adept at handling those problems, and now they're not a big deal. It's not that I stopped having problems, it's just I'm used to handling them--up until a certain level. If I keep learning and growing (and building my team), the millionaire problems will also seem small, and I'll be able to tackle bigger problems. I've had a lot of experience dealing with Amazon shenanigans. I feel whatever feelings come up-- anger, annoyance, maybe some fear--but then take a deep breath and email them multiple times until I get what I want. I still plan on getting the book back into KU and advertising the stuff out of it. In the meantime, I pivoted and decided to advertise other books that still have the link to the pre-order in the back matter (my favorite way to get pre-orders--we'll talk about this on the call today!). Anyhoo, stuff will happen, and you will have feelings about it, but you also can take a deep breath, take a break, pivot and do what you can. No ones going to die if my book isn't in KU --there are no ebook emergencies! It's uncomfortable, but I also wont' die if my reel gets nasty comments--just going through it will teach my nervous system that we can handle it, and then I'll be ready for bigger and better challenges. :D