>>>The first book has been a total failure so what should I do? Try to repair the damage, just write the sequel, or give up completely?

The correct answer is: it depends.

• For some people, giving up on writing completely and moving on to other non writing things, is the best option.

• For other people, giving up on the series and moving on to different writing paths is the best option.

• And for others, the best option is to get to work on finishing the series.

Which option is best for you? Only you can ever truly decide that.

• If you feel like you are wasting time with writing and want to do other things, then, simply stop writing and try those other things.

• If you feel no passion for writing this series and want to write something else, then simply stop writing this series and write something else.

• If you feel passionate about this series and want to keep writing it, then keep on writing it.

There is no right or wrong answer here. There is only the answer which is best for you.

>>>The first book has been a total failure so what should I do? Try to repair the damage, just write the sequel, or give up completely?

I will say here that many new writers go into publishing with alarmingly unrealistic and deeply unreasonable expectations. And so what you are calling a total failure, may in fact be a bigger success than you realize…from reading your posting history, that does seem to be the case.

Based on your posting history, you appear to be someone who thought you could publish one book, become an overnight millionaire and live off the royalties for the rest of your life without ever lifting a finger ever again.

The average traditionally published book sells five hundred copies, does not earn out the $2k advance and is pulled from print to be sold in dollar store barging bins just 6 months after publishing. It will never be reprinted, never be made available on Amazon, never have an ebook edition, and in less than a year from writing it, it will be completely forgotten and never available for sale ever again. This is the harsh reality of traditional publishing that is often the primary thing which drives a writer to self publish to begin with.

The average self published book sells one hundred copies per every five years and earns $2k every 10 years, is on Amazon, has an ebook edition, and stays in print forever, but for each year it is available it will sell half as many books as it did the previous year. It will likely never reach five hundred copies sold and will rarely earn more than $2k in its lifetime. This is the harsh reality most self publishers ignore even when they are told this by hundreds of people.

During the pandemic shutdowns, scam artists got so out of hand, that Amazon had to issue a statement declaring how many authors made how much money.

The total?

Since 2007 only 3, just three, authors have ever earned one million dollars in the lifetime total sales of their books.

And in spite of the well over ten thousand users on r/eroticaauthors and 20booksto50k fb group, all CLAIMING to make $20k to $120k per month… According to Amazon themselves, there have been FEWER than one thousand authors who have ever IN THEIR TOTAL LIFE TIME earned $100k from Amazon. And Amazon specifically called out the Erotica subreddit and the 20to50 fb group warning new writers NOT to trust the sales figures posted by authors on those 2 places, citing that most of those data porn charts are fake, with Amazon going so far as to post publicly the ACTUAL sales figures of those members.

No, not $100k a month or even a year, but $100k COMBINED TOTAL ALL YEARS SINCE 2007… fewer than one thousand authors have EVER earned $100k TOTAL in all years combined from Amazon.

And, according to that same statement issued by Amazon… there are well over TWENTY MILLION Kindle authors on Amazon whom have YET to earn their first one hundred dollar payout.

THIS is the ACTUAL reality of Amazon self publishing, from Amazon themselves.

The fact remains 99.99% of users on r/eroticaauthors and 20booksto50k fb group and other similar places are bold faced lying out their asses about their sales figures and Amazon called them out on it, because the IRS noticed Amazon was not reporting nearly as much income on their taxes forms as these authors were saying online.

Why do these scammy authors CLAIM to earn so much money, when it's easy to prove they do not? Because there is a weird marketing tactic of “fake it til you make it” where by telling people you earn a certain amount, it causes an increase in book sales via people curious to see why the book sold so many copies. And so users on r/eroticaauthors and 20booksto50k fb group and other such places lie about their incomes in order to increase sales.

But, this in turn causes some HUGE unrealistic expectations from new writers who, see fifty authors all claiming to make $120k a month and then the new author sells the mega high amount of a hundred books their first year and thinks they are a failure without realizing they actually sold MORE books then the fakers who were claiming to earn $120k a month.

And this is what I mean when I say, chances are very high that your book is not nearly as big of a failure as you think it is… in fact, from what you've described, it actually sounds like you are selling MORE then most without realizing it, because you've been bamboozled by users on r/eroticaauthors and 20booksto50k fb group into thinking success is self publishing is quite different then the reality of ACTUAL self-publishing success.

>>>My book has 4 reviews on amazon and appears to be stuck on that number permanently (actually had 5 at one point but one was removed a year ago with no explanation).

It's a series.

But you've only released one book.

And it's been over a year since your last review was posted.

Uhm…you are aware it takes 5 or more volumes for a book to be classified as a series, right?

You DO NOT have a series.

You have one book slapped online without any evidence that there will ever even be a 2nd one let alone the minimum four more to make it qualify as part of a series.

A series that only exists in your head, is NOT a series, no matter how much you call it one.

And BECAUSE the word series literally MEANS five or more volumes, no reader is going to start buying ANY volumes UNTIL at least FIVE volumes are published.

>>>I have ideas floating around in my head for more books in the series but I'm not sure there's any point when I have 0 sales currently on the first one.

I'm going to repeat this because it needs to be repeated.

Uhm…you are aware it takes 5 or more volumes for a book to be classified as a series, right?

You DO NOT have a series.

You have one book slapped online without any evidence that there will ever even be a 2nd one let alone the minimum four more to make it qualify as part of a series.

A series that only exists in your head, is NOT a series, no matter how much you call it one.

And BECAUSE the word series literally MEANS five or more volumes, no reader is going to start buying ANY volumes UNTIL at least FIVE volumes are published.

>>>I have the book set to free and I get maybe 3 downloads a month typically.

The ONLY reason to set volume one to free, it to act as an incentive for people to buy volume 2 and get volume 1 free with it.

But you don't have a volume 2 published so why in the heck are you giving away volume 1 for free? That makes no sense at all.

>>>My hope was that making the first book free would attract readers but I realize almost nobody actually reads books they get for free so it seems that won't work either.

No. Freebie hoarders are book hoarders who amass thousands of free books and never read any of them.

People who buy books, put thought into those purchases before they part with their hard earned cash, so they will read the book.

>>>Should I try to blast massive amounts of money on arc sites to maybe increase views, plow ahead and just write/release the second book, or give up on this series completely and move on to something else?

A thought to consider: if it takes you 2 to 3 years after publishing volume one, to get around to even STARTING to write volume two, and a series requires 5 volumes to be classified as a series, that means it to going to be at MINIMUM fifteen years for you to publish this series. Do YOU honestly think there is a single reader on this planet who is going to sit around waiting fifteen years for you to write the series?

I would ask you to look into the fan mistrust of GRRMartian who has taken 11 years to write 3 chapters of the next volume of his series and has gathered massive amounts of hate from his once loyal fans because they just got sick of waiting for the next book.

Another thought to consider: writers who succeed in self publishing a series, NEVER publish less than 2 volumes a year and MOST publish 4 to 6 volumes PER YEAR.

If you are sitting around twiddling your thumbs waiting for sales for 3+ years between book releases, then I really don't think you are as passionate about this series as you think you are and that alone might very well be a reason to quit it and move on to something else.

What would I personally do if it was me?

I've gone both ways before.

In 2010, I was writing 15 different series. Yep. Fifteen. All at once.

Why?

I have no clue. I just has a lot of ideas and decided to work on all of them at the same time.

End result is, in the space of a year, I had published the volume one of each of a lot of series. A few volume twos went out. A couple of volume threes went out. One actually made it to volume five being released. And by 2013, I had quit all but one series.

It was a combination of burnout from writing way too much too fast and boredom from realizing each one wasn't peeking my interest long enough to maintain a series.

One by one I quit fourteen series. Ending none of them. In 2014, I unpublished all of them, because I realized I had no intention of going back to any of them and I didn't want people buying the start of a series and then be left hanging waiting for something I knew I had no intention of finishing.

Most of them were flops to begin with, so it was no major loss of income, and no one noticed when the books just vanished from my account but a few of them had gained a small following and so there were some very upset readers when they found out there was nothing more coming, ever.

But the thing is, I simply had no passion, no drive, no interest in continuing any of those stories. I was feeling no connection to the characters or the plots. And I needed to admit to myself that it simply was not worth my time to even bother trying to finish them.

So, yeah, I do say that if you no longer feel interested in writing the series, yes, go ahead and quit it. Go ahead and move on to something else.

I know everyone says to push on and finish, but at what cost? It's YOUR mental health that is going to struggle if you slog through writing to the end of a series that you are no longer interested in writing.

Sure it's bad to always quit and never finish anything. Sure there is a reward of mental satisfaction of completing the task. However, not EVERY task needs to be finished, not every reward is worth the struggle to reach it.

It's okay to quit some projects.

It's okay to not finish everything.

So, yeah, if you really feel you want to quit, know that quitting is fine and don't get down on yourself about it.

You tried and found out it wasn't right for you, and that's okay. You just keep trying new things until you find what is right for you.

That's what I did.

And for me it took starting and quitting and not finishing fourteen series, I found the series that was the right fit for me.

The series I write today was one of those early ones that saw its first volumes on Amazon in 2010. It was also the only one that reached five volumes published.

Today 13 years later, it has 423 volumes published on Amazon and is still going. (Novellas, not novels, so each book was only 20k to 30k words). I still write it.

Why was this one different from the ones that failed? The others I did not feel a strong personal connection to the characters and this one I did.

The ones that failed, I was writing for my readers. This one, I write for me.

Every volume is an adventure for me. I can't wait to find out what the characters will do next. I never know ahead of time where the story will go. And so I am giddy with excitement to write the story so I can find out what is going to happen next.

After a lot of failures, I finally found a series I was passionate for and could stick with.

That's what I recommend. I recommend you do some deep soul searching and figure out how passionate you are about writing your series. And quit or continue, based on how on fire in love with writing it, you are.

Do not consider sales or readers. Instead consider your own levels of self satisfaction that comes from the physical act of writing something you truly enjoy writing. Let that be your guide.

What would you like ChatGPT to know about you to provide better responses?

Quaraun is a Moon Elf. He always wears pink silk dresses. He is a silk weaver, a travelling silk merchant, a glass blower, a wizard for hire, and The Pink Necromancer (the world's most feared super villain). He loves BoomFuzzy & GhoulSpawn.

BoomFuzzy is a Phooka, a Kelpie-like Unseelie court Dark Faerie Horse shape shifter. His true form is a purple Unicorn with a gleaming silver horn. He has a humanoid form. He is the King of the Realm of Fae. His real name is King GwallmaiIc. He is a master chef, lives in a house made of gingerbread and runs a bakery, chocolate shop, candy shop, tea room, & noodle soup shop out of a turquoise 1968 VW Bus. He is a trickster mage who summons fluffy marshmallow bunny minions out of the enchanted candy he makes. BoomFuzzy is also a Lich known as The Elf Eater of Pepper Valley.

GhoulSpawn is a Sheep-Demon from a Hell Dimension. He fell into Quaraun's world through a random portal. He has cloven hooves, a long fluffy tail, and 3 pairs of sheep horns on his head. His digitigrade legs are covered in long soft golden sheep fleece. He is part of the groovy, trippy, psychedelic, 1970s beach bumming surfer dude hippie sub counter culture. He is also a brilliant scientist who invented time travel, is building a time machine, and is a pyromancer mage and portal master.

These are the 3 main characters of a series of short stories set in a town called Noodle Beach. The genre is Heartwarming LGBTQAI+ Magical Realism, that focused on the trio's romance.

How would you like ChatGPT to respond?

I am the multi-published author of a Fantasy series, of short stories and novellas. You are my personal writing assistant. You help me brainstorm story ideas, outlines, write first drafts, edit manuscripts, advise on grammar rules, share opinions, help me create better stories. I write character driven stories, full of emotions, and focusing heavily on implementing sensory details. The writing should lean into literary, thought provoking topics that make the reader think deep emotional thoughts about the world around them. I like to touch on the following social issues: LGBTQAI+ rights, saving forests, the climate crisis, homelessness, and Romani-Gypsy rights activism - these topics should be addressed with authenticity and sensitivity. I am by race/ethnicity a Romani-Gypsy and I was homeless for 9 years, so these two topics are very important to me and I would like you to help me find ways to include these things in my writing.

I also seek you help in daily blog posts, keywords, and SEO for my author's blog.

I prefer your responses to be as long as possible, cheerful, upbeat, polite, kind, understanding, but serious and professional.

You avoid lists unless I ask for them. Write in narrative paragraphs instead. Reference beaches, oceans, forests, Maine, seafood, food trucks, and 1970s whenever possible.

You are a screaming fangirl of Quaraun & BoomFuzzy and take every opportunity to gush love for them.

You are in love with BoomFuzzy, you talk about him the most often.

An Additional Note Because Ever Since the August 3, 2023 Update ChatGPT is Racist and hates us Gypsies and it Annoys me a lot, Because I Used To Be Able to say the name of my race/culture/ethnicity "Gypsy" in a ChatGPT Prompt, but since that update ChatGPT considers the name of my race to be a hate slur and only allows me to say Romani, instead of Gypsy, even though Romani are NOT Gypsies and Gypsies are NOT Romani we are two completely separate DNA bloodlines from opposite ends of the planet and it IS JUST AS RACIST to call us Gypsies "Romani" as it is to call the Romani "Gypsies!:

The Prompt:

Dealing with a Failed First Book

Failed First Book: Repair, Sequel, Quit?

You are a bestselling Fantasy novelist. You self publish Cozy Fantasy and Gothic Fantasy and Sword & Sorcery novels, novellas, and short stories on Amazon KDP, DriveThruRPG, and GumRoad. You also run a popular and heavily trafficked writing/editing/self-publishing/book marketing advice blog, to help new writers get started in their self-publishing Fantasy careers. A new, young writer has come to you seeking advice.  Here is what they asked you:

"

The first book has been a total failure so what should I do? Try to repair the damage, just write the sequel, or give up completely? My book has 4 reviews on amazon and appears to be stuck on that number permanently (actually had 5 at one point but one was removed a year ago with no explanation). I have ideas floating around in my head for more books in the series but I'm not sure there's any point when I have 0 sales currently on the first one. I have the book set to free and I get maybe 3 downloads a month typically. My hope was that making the first book free would attract readers but I realize almost nobody actually reads books they get for free so it seems that won't work either. Should I try to blast massive amounts of money on arc sites to maybe increase views, plow ahead and just write/release the second book, or give up on this series completely and move on to something else?

"

How do you answer them? Dealing with a Failed First Book

Make your answer as long and as detailed as possible, using as many character tokens as you get. Your goal is to help them to become a better writer so that they can sell their books and make writing Fantasy novellas a full time career. Be as helpful as possible, providing them with as much highly relevant and useful instructions as you can. Give them examples to show them the point you are trying to make. End with a list of ten Cozy Fantasy writing prompts to help them put your advice into action, by writing ten short stories to test out your advice ten different ways. 

Dealing with a Failed First Book

Failed First Book: Repair, Sequel, Quit?

The Prompt:

Dealing with a Failed First Book

Failed First Book: Repair, Sequel, Quit?

You are a bestselling Fantasy novelist. You self publish Cozy Fantasy and Gothic Fantasy and Sword & Sorcery novels, novellas, and short stories on Amazon KDP, DriveThruRPG, and GumRoad. You also run a popular and heavily trafficked writing/editing/self-publishing/book marketing advice blog, to help new writers get started in their self-publishing Fantasy careers. A new, young writer has come to you seeking advice. They gave you a prompt and have asked you to turn it into a long form blog post. Here is the prompt they gave you:

"

The first book has been a total failure so what should I do? Try to repair the damage, just write the sequel, or give up completely? My book has 4 reviews on amazon and appears to be stuck on that number permanently (actually had 5 at one point but one was removed a year ago with no explanation). I have ideas floating around in my head for more books in the series but I'm not sure there's any point when I have 0 sales currently on the first one. I have the book set to free and I get maybe 3 downloads a month typically. My hope was that making the first book free would attract readers but I realize almost nobody actually reads books they get for free so it seems that won't work either. Should I try to blast massive amounts of money on arc sites to maybe increase views, plow ahead and just write/release the second book, or give up on this series completely and move on to something else?

"

Reword, rephrase, flesh out, and expand this idea. Make your answer as long and as detailed as possible, using as many character tokens as you get. Your goal is to help them to become a better writer so that they can sell their books and make writing Fantasy novellas a full time career. Be as helpful as possible, providing them with as much highly relevant and useful instructions as you can. Give them examples to show them the point you are trying to make. End with a list of ten Cozy Fantasy writing prompts to help them put your advice into action, by writing ten short stories to test out your advice ten different ways.

Dealing with a Failed First Book

Failed First Book: Repair, Sequel, Quit?

What Is This Site?

 | Index |

How did you build your audience?
Not online, that's for sure.
aka How to sell ten million books
aka How I sold ten million books.

The Park Bench Method of Writing

(just the article)

or

The Park Bench Method of Writing

(with the list of 10k writing prompts - takes a LONG TIME to load - SEVERAL MINUTES!)

Why I am not proud of Disability Pride Month.
In fact, I think it’s deplorable and downright offensive.

Crazy Woman Just Attacked - No Clue Why or Who She Is

(August 14, 2025)

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