Flatlining

I had never thought of it before, but I saw an author complaining of flatlining, and it got me to thinking. You may be more familiar with the term used in the medical field to indicate a person whose heart has stopped beating and leaves a straight, flat line on the monitor. However, it can also refer to any stagnant failure to grow on a chart.

To an author, it refers to the report of kindle book sales put out by amazon for published books. The graph shows a month's sales, and if there have been no sales during that month, the chart flatlines. It's hard for me to imagine having a whole month without sales, but I guess it happens. Thankfully, it has never happened to me.

I think one of the reasons it hasn't is that I've taken the advice of two author friends, MaryLu Tyndall and Tamara Leigh. They agreed that to keep sales up an author should keep publishing books. They said the more books you have out, the more people will continue to buy them and remain interested in what you're doing. I think they were right, so I plan to continue writing, not for just this reason, but because it's a part of who I am and what I'm compelled to do. So far, I've published eleven books and have two more coming out soon. I also have a third book almost ready. Writing remains an exciting adventure to me, and I can't wait to see where it takes me next.

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