They happen.
It isn’t often that I’ll go more than a day or two without someone reading one of my books. The recent availability of AI-powered audible files led to a significant, months-long spike in readership. I’d make coffee in the morning, boot up the laptop and see how many pages had been read.
The record in one day? Over five hundred. least that was not zero? Four. Okay, so who reads four pages of a book and then sets it down? Here’s a hint - ask a mom with toddlers who works from/at home.
It’s been several years since I had a whole month without any readership at all. Oh, I’ve tried a few things, at least the kinds of things I’m comfortable doing. Contests have never worked for me, nor “What is your quest?” sorts of buzz-generating. When I’m doing “chumming” on X (Twitter) and someone writes stuff like, “You talk a big game for a romantic suspense novelist!!” I always ask if they want to buy a book and see. Maybe that’s not the best approach, but it is authentic.
Dry spells come, and dry spells go. All I can tell you is the printed versions are robust enough to take to the beach, or to the mountains. I really don’t ask you to think at all, except that I want you to accept the premise of all of my books - heroism, honesty, service and sacrifice, all of that is gender neutral.
So… Maybe you’d enjoy some light reading this summer. Before the dry spells becomes a literary desert.