And not because they’re so good… 😅
You’re meeting a friend at the Grimoire Cafe today.
The sun is shining, it’s warm but not oppressive, and the cafe is bustling with people. In the corner, in his customary chair, Vlad is sipping and reading. On the other side of the space, a couple is sipping coffees together, laughing in that way people do when they’re newly in love–easily, with a giddy edge. There’s a mom in the corner, drinking a special while her tweens watch something on their phones; you can tell this is her first bit of respite today.
“Hey, good to see you!” Tini smiles from behind the coffee machine when you get to the front of the line. “I haven’t written the board yet, but the special is a Vietnamese style iced coffee.”
She has a helper on the register today—a person with pixie-short, neon pink hair and snake bite piercings, who smiles and gives a nod when you look their way. “It’s really good,” she says. “The special, I mean.”
“So is the gluten free coffee cake,” Tini adds through the hiss of the machine, and from behind billowing steam.
The special and coffee cake it is.
Minutes later, as you find the perfect table, your friend arrives. She’s never been to the Grimoire befpre, but you had a feeling she’d love it. Her eyes sparkle as she walks in and sees the carved, antique bar-turned-coffee-counter, the plants hanging from the ceiling, and set in stands near the windows, the mismatched chairs, and navy blue cement floors. Wonderful places are always best when shared with people we care about, and The Grimoire Cafe is no exception…
It was a complement, really, when my friend was shocked by how low my book sales are.
“I figured you were selling tons!” she said. “They’re so good, and your genre is so hot right now!”
Bless her. I wish the quality of the writing was the only thing that determined book sales (or maybe I don’t… That’s a conversation for another post.) But it got me thinking about marketing, and luck–and what makes best sellers best sellers.
My very first series, The Shift Series, was an Amazon best seller for a good chunk of time in the first year or two after it released in 2011. I can still remember how fun it was watching the sales climb. My bestfriend planned a party for me the first time I sold 100 books in a month, but by the time the party came around, I was already on my way to selling 1000 books the following month. The books I sold during that time paid for the downpayment on the house I’m sitting in now. No joke.
And then Kindle Unlimited happened. And I didn’t go exclusive. And it all came crashing down.
I don’t regret the decision to stay wide when I could have niched down to Amazon alone. I still sell copies of The Shift Series, especially on Kobo. But that’s not the point of this post, exactly—the point is that the longer I do this, the more I come to realize that luck has as much to do with “success” in my career as an author as my writing does, or even my marketing. And that’s true for every author out there. The ones hitting it big? They got lucky. Their book might be great, don’t get me wrong, but they wrote the right thing and published it at the right time. Or their book when viral on TikTok. Or they happened to be friends with an influencer. Or they landed the publishing deal because an intern picked their query out of a slush pile and that day she was craving a shifter romance. Who knows! There is no limit to the ways luck plays a part in every author’s success—in EVERYONE’S success in all things, for that matter.
Again. It doesn’t mean you didn’t write something incredible, or that you don’t deserve the success. I just think it’s important to remember that you aren’t the soul determination point, that’s all. If you haven’t hit it big (whatever that means for you) it’s how your fault (at least not entirely.) You can help the odds, but you can’t control them.
What do you think?
P.S. As a reader, you have as much more more influence on the success of any individual book as the author does. If you read a book and love it, tell people about it! (And tag the author if you loved it—that shit makes this lonely career all worth it.) 💜
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Vietnamese-Style Iced Coffee
So, the first time I had Vietnamese Iced Coffee I was at Animal Kingdom in DisneyWorld (Isle of Java, don’t miss it next time you’re in WDW!) I drank so many of them… Anyway, I wanted to try it out at home, so I found this recipe online and it went great! Animal Kingdom definitely makes theirs on the sweeter side (you’re shocked, I know haha!) I made it with my own cold brew, but next time I’m going to buy Vietnamese coffee and give it a try with the real stuff!
As always, if you give this a try, let me know! Tag me on social (@elle.beauregard.author, or @ellebeauregard.bsky.social), comment here, or shoot me an email (elle[at]ellebeauregard[dot]com)
Hello!👋 