Reset.

I can look at my overall author rankings on Amazon.

Squiggly lines, high and tight when my books are selling, loose and wide when they slow down. They more or less frazzle out over time.

I did some research before starting and it was clear to me that most books have about a four to six month sales arc. That is, they start to level off at about four months, and pretty much are done after six months. So my goal was to put out a book every five months or so. (I was writing full time and with the modern technology I don't really need to spend more time than that on any one book.)

It's pretty clear that when I was releasing a new book every few months, the sales momentum stayed high and tight. The moment my first publisher delayed the next book, the chart started fraying. I'll always wonder what might have happened if he'd published the next book on time. Instead, he was over a year late and never did put out the paperback version. ("The Darkness You Fear" has finally been released in the last few days.)

Same thing with my second and third publishers. Good starts, then over a year delay by which time the graph is fraying badly. 

One of the frustrating things is that I was writing books on a regular basis. If they'd been published on time, I'm pretty sure I could have kept sales higher and tighter.

The first publisher went MIA. The second and third publishers attempted to go mainstream, which meant my books were held back in preparation. In theory this should have been a good thing but in practice it was an overreach and put them both out of publishing (at least my kind of books.)

They delayed forever and then just sort of lamely dropped my books into the marketplace with zero backup.

In other words, any momentum stalled.

Now, we're not talking huge sales even at best, but enough to feel like I was reaching people.

I have three new publishers. Two of them seem active. The publisher of the "Virginia Reed Adventures" has done an audio version of "Led to the Slaughter" and has republished "The Dead Spend No Gold" and "The Darkness You Fear." If I can get over my writer's block, I want to write a fourth and fifth Virginia Reed book.

Crossroad Press has been very proactive and responsive. They will publish most anything I send them, so the timing (and quality) is now up to me. I need to give them time to edit and create a cover, but mostly they look like they'll stick to my four to five month timeline. (As I say, I was writing during all these delays so have a backlog of material to release.)

They did a wonderful thing by putting "Deadfall Ridge" on BookBub, which has sold better than any of my other books. It has more or less reset the graph. My sales are high and tight again, and I'm hoping to keep that going.

"Fateplay," which is my Ready Player One inspired "Game-lit" book, has been edited and is waiting on a cover, so it should be coming out in the timeline. (Of course, I'm hoping for a BookBub, though I know this is always a longshot.)

"Eden's Return" is almost ready, so it's up next. My goal is to make sure I have a new book ever five months.

So I'll get to see if I can keep the squiggly lines high and tight for awhile.

(I probably shouldn't say it, but I don't really care about the money. I've given up a huge amount of earnings by not working my store. No way I'll ever make that up. Meanwhile, I'm living the dream.)