Over a year ago, April 30th 2024 to be exact, I released my second novel in a trilogy. It took me about six years to draft, write, edit, and release – a massive amount of time in book world. And today, in July of 2025, is the first time I’m posting about it on my website.
Oh I did a promo post when I finalized the cover, sure. You can find it below this one where I apologize for not having posted in two years. Should probably stop doing that. I made a big social media post. I bought lots of ads. I even paid a large sum of money to have Kirkus Reviews give it a write up. They were nice and positive. I paid another sum of money to send out ARCs of both books to indie reviewers. General consensus? We like your book Chris, it’s good. And that felt good. I am assured I’ve written something worth reading.
The rest? Not so much. I’m not a great marketer and I certainly don’t have infinite funds to throw at Amazon ads to pay for clicks that don’t lead to sales. I don’t know what I expected, but I guess I expected a bigger splash? Currently, book two is languishing on Amazon with only 8 ratings compared to over 50 on book one. Day one sales, solid, the family and friends who support authors all tend to come out on the first day.
Total sales though? A pack of cards: 52. Less people have talked to me about the book, even less have mentioned it at all. The culmination of years of effort sometimes feels like a wasted effort. Many days I feel pathetic, here you go friends, a book you might not even like that took me longer to make than a brand new human. I am pretty active in indie author social media world. I’ve seen indie books sell thousands of copies in a week for authors who are posting about “finally making it” when they started writing only two years prior (pro tip: if you want to make money? Romance novels are the way to go, no shade). I’ve seen authors beg and plead for people to read their life’s work and one look at the cover tells you exactly how much care went into the rest of the product. I am a part of this ecosystem, a farmers market of knitters asking you to buy their homemade blankets but only after you buy the blanket will you truly know if it was worth the money.
I’m starting to sound bitter. My least favorite flavor of author on social media. There’s one in particular who can never understand their lack of success, when to me it’s brutally obvious. Your prose is bad and your covers look like they were made in Microsoft Paint. Why can’t you see?
But…that could easily be me. Delusional about the quality of my own abilities, falling into a ditch of self-pity and depression.
It was me. It is me. It will be me. In the past, in the present, in the future, I acknowledge these doubts are mine and I try not to let them control me but many times they win out. This is why I “forgot” to post about my book.
So what I’m saying is this, for me and for anyone who needs to hear it: Sorry I’m late, I have excuses but they don’t matter. What matters is I made it and that needs to be enough for now.
The Afters: Book Two has “Dynamic characters and a consistently brisk plot”. “Even better than the first.” “I never thought a zombie series would be able to keep my attention like this.”
And despite my lack of posting, I am very proud of it.
Christopher O'Connell 