Free Fallin'

I have dropped out of the Amazon Top 100 in my category.  Urgh.  How could I have gone from a high of #17 (paid) to god-knows-what in ten days??

I'm trying to fight an impulse to deny what's happening:  there HAS to be a mistake.  Immediately after my book became "available" on CreateSpace, but before it's been posted on Amazon, my sales started dropping…to nothing.  Coincidence?  Hmm, I think not.

Maybe it's the Olympics!

Or maybe it's this blog!

Or maybe it's all this social marketing stuff having an adverse effect!

Or maybe I should just face facts and accept that my book is D-O-N-E.

Inside, I'm doing the equivalent of dropping to my knees, shaking a fist to the sky and screaming, "Why, God, Why??  Why don't they like my book?!"

But on the outside, I'm just sitting here trying to figure out what to do next.  And blogging about it.

The most productive thing is to:

1.  Be patient.

2.  Work on my next project.

3.  Try to figure out other ways to market the book.

Let's go through this one at a time. 

Be patient.  On the one hand, there's a lot going on.  Supposedly, Amazon is going through some system changes.  At least that's what someone posted on the Community boards, so the shit MUST be true.  And, again, I don't know what effect offering my book in paperback and Kindle version is going to have.  So, I should be patient.  It's not like I have a choice or anything.

Work on my next project.  This makes the most sense in a Buddhist/therapist-advice kind of way.  Instead of trying to give myself the appearance of control over this process by constantly checking my ranking and reports, I should focus on doing the thing that I actually, really, do have control over, and that's creating. 

Other ways to market the book.  Well, I guess this can't hurt.  Also, I should take advantage of this "lull" in sales and upload yet another, edited version of the book.

I'm exhausted from worry.  And now I'm worried that there's something wrong with me because I'm seeing some obsessive tendencies surfacing.  I mean, really, I need to check my stats every hour??  Do all authors go through this?  Or just me?