Coming to terms with what works and what doesn’t.

If only I knew where my sales came from.

Sometimes I know – a reader might comment that they’ve just bought my book, and if they’re commenting on Facebook, I’ll probably assume that Facebook is where they discovered my book. Sometimes other authors will buy one of my books after getting to know me. But mostly I have no clue how my books were discovered.

Of course my dashboards on KDP and Draft 2 Digital show me how many units have been sold via various platforms, but how those readers found me and my books is a mystery.

I wrote last week about how Medium boosted my confidence as a paid writer, only to take it away again when things changed there, and this week I want to continue to be honest with you.

My author platform is not working.

You might wonder how I know this. Well, it’s fairly simple to figure out. I get sales for my books and I don’t know how those readers found me, but that’s just one way to look at the facts. The other fact is this: likes and follows do not translate to sales. Let’s take Facebook as an example.

On Facebook I have 1,400 followers roughly. In theory, that should be 1,400 people who are following my page because they are interested in me and my books. But that cannot be true, because the figures do not add up. Every time I post about a new book, the same names pop up to comment and congratulate, and I’m pretty sure it’s the same lovely handful of loyal readers that go on to buy the book and leave a review.

What I am forcing myself to consider now is this: why are all those other people following my page if they don’t want to read my books? Is it a false audience? Is it a waste of my time? Would my time be better spent building up another audience elsewhere, as annoying as that is to consider?

In theory, every time I release a book, a fair chunk of those 1,400 followers should buy it and leave a review. But I know they don’t because my sales and reviews do not show this. So, why are they there? Why are they following? Is it to be supportive? They like me enough to follow what I post but not enough to try my books? Is it a like for like thing? Did they like my page hoping I would like theirs, for example? Or is it that Facebook has reduced my visibility so much that most of those 1,400 people are never shown my posts so have no idea when I have a new book out?

I suspect all of the above is true and it leaves me with a dilemma.

Do I rip it up and start over? Do I quit Facebook because it is not working for me? Do I pour more efforts into other platforms that might give me better visibility?

My concern is that the same thing would happen again. I do wish we lived in a world where people only followed accounts they are actually interested in. I would rather have 40 likes on my author page and 40 regular loyal readers, than 1,400 people who give me false hope every time I post about my books.

Building an author platform is something else they tell you to do when you start as an indie. It’s something I have always embraced, understood and worked hard at. I’ve even run workshops on how to start building one.

It used to work better – that’s for sure.

So, what is the answer? Keep adding more social media accounts in the hope that somehow it might bring you the readers you desire? Or quit the ones that are giving me a false audience? I am sticking with Medium in the hopes my visibility there returns to what it was – and I am enjoying posting on Substack and BlueSky. I prefer these three to Facebook and Instagram so I am tempted to slowly replace them. But I do wonder if the same thing will happen again.

Should I care? Should it matter? I can’t help feeling frustrated by it.

Let me know what your thoughts are! If you’re an author, have you ever found your follows results in sales? If you’re a reader, do you follow authors you don’t read and if so, why?