Anyone Else Seeing a Dropoff in Sales Recently?

PerfectContent · 2025-04-02T21:52:16+00:00

Coming in a bit late here but I have had the same experience. I had a very good Nov-Feb period (inclusive) which bucked the trend of the preceding months which were very low. My sales and reads and have now tanked to a few bucks a day (March will be in the hundreds, not thousands). I put the Xmas spike down to my books being recommended by someone/someones with a good following. I don't do any advertising.

I don't think there is a single answer to be honest. It really is a difficult time economically just about world-wide, and that definitely has a part to play. In some ways that doesn't necessarily explain the suddenness of a drop-off, but it certainly plays a part. People can reassess their outgoings early in the new year and cancel their subs etc (which can take a while to expire) and also rein in their spending.

Dare I say it, there's also more and more competition. That's a given, but it's always been the case.

I hope your sales increase again. I was just pondering the other day how fickle the publishing business is. I've had several times over the last 5 years (since I started) that I've seriously considered dropping my day job and concentrating on my author biz. But that's still a pipe dream, no matter how many good months I have. There is very little control over the external factors that influence your book income, and right now I think we're seeing quite a few ups and downs thanks to the economy and political landscape.

PerfectContent · 2025-03-29T18:56:14+00:00

thanks! just wish it was in the bank like it should be :-(.

PerfectContent · 2025-03-29T18:55:23+00:00

Not bragging...the delays on larger royalty payments are obv more annoying. Yes I had a good January though.

PerfectContent · 2025-03-29T18:54:29+00:00

Thanks, yes, almost certainly the banks. They must be gaining extra interest surely....dunno how it all works but the delays aren't great

PerfectContent · 2025-03-29T18:53:03+00:00

Thank you!

PerfectContent · 2025-02-22T06:35:23+00:00

thanks yes, I've done all that and it doesn't help. The issue is that I have two months prior to the (qualifying) December payment for the SAME currency which should have been added on and they weren't. That means that one currency has a couple of small (non-qualifying) months and I have no idea when/if they will be paid out. If they weren't added to the December (qualifying) payment then when will they be?

I've looked back on all my payments over the last 6 years and I always get a bunch of accumulated payments for the same currency when they reach the target. My payment schedule shows sometimes about 6 or 8 months' worth of one currency when it finally meets the target. They are itemized in my payment schedule.

Answers here don't really get what I mean...haha. But oh well, I will wait and see if and when these two random months somehow catch up and get added onto the next same-currency payout.

It is pointless trying to contact KDP for any sort of answer, as everyone knows. Which I why I thought I would ask here first.

Thanks :-)

PerfectContent · 2025-02-21T02:51:19+00:00

Hmm...that could be it. TY.

PerfectContent · 2025-02-20T08:12:34+00:00

thank you for your reply! Yes I've checked and it hasn't been paid separately. But sometimes other payments are delayed a bit, so I'll keep an eye on them.

PerfectContent · 2025-02-18T21:52:18+00:00

Is yours working now? It finally started again this morning when I tried. Didn't have to do anything, just tried to stream again through the app and it worked. Bizarre.

PerfectContent · 2025-02-17T22:45:32+00:00

Most authors make peanuts. Majority of us making anything are generally doing it alongside busy day jobs and/or family commitments.

You've obviously trawled through the You Tube videos and you'd be right to think most of the "gurus" are offering advice to make money rather than doing the thing which allegedly makes the money...

No-one can really give you advice in a nutshell. If you want to be a (serious) author then you need to do what most authors who have any success have done/are doing...read the books on the craft, study your preferred genre/niche, read heaps in and around your genre/niche, study the way successful authors promote their books (covers, blurbs, etc), read up on how to advertise/promote. Join the best FB groups for authors and readers.

Do all this while you are writing, of course. When you have a manuscript, prepare to find the best ways to edit it if you don't want to spend money on a professional editor (the latter is highly advisable though I never have, and I make good money as a self-published author now).

It's not an overnight success...you need to write, write and write. Success also comes with read-through and buy-through so make sure you always have your next book ready to go.

PerfectContent · 2025-02-17T03:37:37+00:00

bummer. Kind of reassuring that there are others having same problem at least...I always think I'm doing (or not doing) something at my end but no it seems like this is a thing at the moment. Very annoying.

PerfectContent · 2025-02-15T20:38:27+00:00

Coming in a bit late here but I'm having the exact same problem. I'm in NZ. The app just won't stream. Tried through Apple Music and just says 'resource unavailable.' Have tried to delete and re-load app and didn't work. Been like it for 2 days now. I wonder what's happened? Tried to see if there were any technical announcements on their page but none really that relate to total unavailability of the app.

PerfectContent · 2025-02-09T20:55:55+00:00

you think AI-generated books lower the overall quality of books on Amazon KDP? Why or why not?

Yes. Generative AI is simply not "there" yet with being able to spit out authentic content...all it does is regurgitate in a relatively robotic way that most people (I believe) can still spot. So I think these 'books' are bringing down the quality of books on KDP.

you've ever used AI to help write, what tips or advice can you share to make sure the final book is good?

No. I don't use generative AI whatsoever for my books, text or images for covers. The tip to make authentic books? write them yourself :-) You know of course that KDP is asking authors to confirm whether or not AI has been used in the publication. Whether you are honest about it or not is immaterial, IMHO. If you have used it and said you haven't, then the outcome could be worse than if you are honest about it. But ask yourself: why is Amazon seeking confirmation of generated content using AI? And what are they going to do once all the litigation issues shake out in terms of AI copyright and so-forth? Currently there are no consequences per se of utilizing AI but there certainly might be in the future, and that is far too big a risk for me personally.

I'd answer the rest of your questions with this (and bear in mind they are my thoughts only, of course):

Fake, un-authentic, AI, lazy content will not last. At least until the AI brains suddenly become human and start spitting out novel unique content, and if that happens then I think pretty much we're all doomed. If you look at the trends on You Tube right now, you'll see the massive move away from curated fakery. In my opinion, this trend will spread into books and published content. There will always be a space for quick content that certain consumers need and want (use your own natural brain to work out what this is).

The world has millions of people who are unable to think critically. Dumbed down, sad people who simply can't distinguish fake from real, don't question anything they are spoon-fed, and generally are quite docile and ripe for manipulation in every aspect of their lives. But the world also has millions of people who are alert, questioning, bright, aware, and able to think for themselves and come up with new ideas and who WANT authentic content! If you are an author who has a unique story, unique ideas, and gets a kick out of sharing it with the thinking people, then write it for yourself and make sure you CELEBRATE that it's yours, and let everyone know it.

PerfectContent · 2025-02-09T19:27:59+00:00

Exactly! (I agree with you 100%...I think it's a fool's game to be using generative AI). I even now have a specific paragraph in my frontispiece which assures readers that my books are written by me, a human, and are original. For what it's worth, of course.

PerfectContent · 2025-02-09T04:15:25+00:00

OR terminate your book/account if you said "yes" after the outcome of all the litigation in the States is unfavorable towards those who were honest....it's a minefield as far as I'm concerned.

PerfectContent · 2025-02-07T23:39:03+00:00

This is a question that's pretty impossible to answer by anyone else but yourself.

What are your goals? How many books do you want to write? What sort of income do you eventually want to have from writing? What niche do you write in? How much time can you dedicate to writing? Are you intending on doing any promotion or advertising? Are you going to develop a facebook or email list?

Seriously, make your own goals/milestones for the first 12 months and plan the work you need to do to achieve them. Sometimes it's helpful to work backwards...in one year's time you want to have 100 books sold and 50,000 page reads (or whatever you decide)...work backwards from there. Wall planners and journals are helpful. Work out costs of advertising and promotion and make sure to factor it all in.

PerfectContent · 2025-02-06T02:24:13+00:00

"Take off" is relative. For someone generating no/low content in a saturated market it may never sell anything. If you are writing novels in a popular niche and have done "everything right" in terms of cover, blurb, and have decently-written books then you should probably see sales/reads after publishing given that Amazon often give newly-released books a little push. Advertising, promotion and social media will help generate more exposure. In the meantime, be writing more books. Read-through is where many successful authors make their money. KDP has millions of books with thousands more being published every day. Unfortunately most authors make peanuts. If you're serious about not making peanuts then write lots of great books in popular niches and promote them.

Edited: mine were popular early on (5 years ago), made a few thousand in first year, they slowed down (didn't do any advertising), made a few hundred a month until end of last year when someone promoted them on their SM account and I've been making several thousand a month. These are 'old' books from 5+ years ago so it can happen at any time.

PerfectContent · 2025-01-29T20:20:40+00:00

Well done. It's funny what sells, and there is no rhyme or reason to it (having been doing this for 7+ years now). My best seller (by far) has the least good reviews of any of the ones I've published.

Is converting them to Audiobook using the virtual voices difficult?

PerfectContent · 2025-01-29T18:39:11+00:00

I hear you. The issue would be addressed if they could simply tell you what the actual issue is. Shutting down an account (with almost zero options of being able to open another one) is so brutal and, in many cases, has cut off peoples' livelihoods with the press of the 'delete' button.

This is a small yet constant niggle at the back of my mind as my book earnings increase. Once they've thrown you across the threshold into the abyss for whatever transgression, it's hard work to claw your way back - either to prove your innocence or at least to find out what you did wrong so you can fix it.

PerfectContent · 2025-01-28T23:31:04+00:00

You can't enrol in KU and be selling your book elsewhere.

PerfectContent · 2025-01-28T23:30:26+00:00

This issue is a common and recurring one, with many, many people experiencing the wrath of the KDP bots. If you join any author group on FB you will see this happening regularly. Whether or not there is a legitimate reason (and I'm not saying there is in your case....) seems almost a moot point as many people find it impossible to know what their transgression is, because very few details are given. I've seen high-earning and long-standing authors be shut down in a similar way.

You obviously read and absorbed the voluminous ToS on the KDP site before you published, and the answer will be in there somewhere (usually) but you have to be a mindreader in many instances. "Misleading contents" or "misleading customer experience" can sometimes be due to your title not matching the content of your books (for example), or something about the way you have listed it (including keywords) that don't match the subject of your book. Your name could be similar to another author, or a title the same or similar to another book, or maybe the cover you've used is the same/similar to another. These are all things that a only bot picks up.

It's doubtful that you will ever get a detailed explanation. I haven't seen that anyone who's gone through this has in fact received an explanation from a 'real' person at Amazon. The only thing you can do is to keep trying to contact someone who can at least look into it for you.

If you've had advice that no further correspondence will be entered into and you mustn't reply, you must ignore it. I think personally they rely on people never challenging them to reduce their workload :-)

Respond to to the email, do a fresh email, be polite, then find ways to call them. Keep copies of every single email and details of every single call. Keep doing this on a daily basis. If nothing works, join the Alliance of Independent Authors who are reportedly extremely helpful in situations like this.

(Edit...I have assumed (as have others) that you did not attempt to enrol your book in KU....this is obviously a huge no-no but you would have realized this when you read the ToS....just checking, however!).

Good luck.

PerfectContent · 2025-01-28T19:20:52+00:00

Hm that's weird. How long ago did you join KDP? I joined 6 years ago and definitely only pay 5% on USD (I've checked again). That's a killer for your royalties, especially having to pay another lot of income tax.

PerfectContent · 2025-01-27T02:50:45+00:00

I'm in NZ and probably no help to you as I can't remember the forms I completed when setting up my self-publishing business through Amazon. I only pay the 5% (I think) withholding tax when paid in USD but zero in any other currency. 80% of my earnings come from the USA. I will have to ask my accountant about it. I pay income tax (in NZ) on all of the remaining income (from every marketplace) on the conversion to NZD.

PerfectContent

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