That Final Hurdle
Did I set it too high?
First off, Happy Halloween. I considered writing a post about Halloween, but all I’d do is wax nostalgic about the “good old days” of taking my kids trick-or-treating, and then I’d just get all maudlin, and nobody wants that. I do miss those days, though, and I especially miss carving pumpkins with them. Sure, I could still carve pumpkins, but the true joy came from carving them with my kids, so I don’t. Plus, my sweet black cat who would always bite at the pumpkins while we carved them is no longer with me (he passed away earlier this year), so this holiday has lost its charm for the moment.
Anyhow, I have a bucket of goodies for any trick-or-treaters who stop by tonight, and that’s all I really have to say about this holiday this year.
If you look at the top photo, you’ll see the number 150. I chose this photo for that number because it’s the number of books I still need to sell before the end of 2025 if I hope to reach my goal of selling 500 this year. As I’ve mentioned on here before, that was a lofty goal, and I had my doubts when I set it, but if you don’t aim high, well, you’re certainly not going to reach those heights, are you?
I’ll be happy to settle for 400 if I can get to that number because I’ll have beat last year’s amount if I reach 400, but I don’t want to settle just yet. I still want to reach 500.
Thus, I have continued to post on my various social media sites in the hopes of enticing people to buy a book or two, and I spoke at two libraries recently. Additionally, I will be setting up to sell my books at two local vendor opportunities tomorrow and next Saturday.
While driving to one of the library events, I had an idea — I often get my best ideas while driving, don’t you? Sometimes when people attend my talks or stop by my vendor tables they will voice an interest in my books even though they don’t necessarily want to buy them at the moment, so I’ve been meaning to offer a QR code for them to scan that will take them to my Amazon page. What I thought might be better, though, was to create a sheet with a QR code for each book, so that’s what I did, and it was surprisingly easy to do — in fact, I’d been putting it off because I thought it might be hard to do. Ugh. Here is one for my most recent book.
Give it a try. Use your phone’s camera and wait for the website icon to appear on your phone’s screen, and then click on it, and it will take you right to the Amazon page for this book. Nifty, right? Then a person can easily add the book to her cart for a later purchase, or she can switch it to the eBook option if she prefers that, or she can just go ahead and buy the dang thing right then and there (impulse buy!).
I don’t know if these will do me any good, but I certainly don’t think they’ll do me any harm, and if they lead to a couple sales, then they were worth it. Every sale I can get between now and December 31st gets me closer to clearing that final hurdle I set for myself.
If you don’t recall, the first goal/hurdle was to reach 2,000 total book sales since I first published “The Clearwater House” 10 years ago. As of today, I’ve sold 2,145 copies of all my books. Remember, though, that’s over a full decade and includes all 7 of my books, so the number seems big but isn’t really. I’m still quite proud of that number, though, because I’m self-published, so everything that gets done gets done by me in some way. The second goal/hurdle was to hold at least 25 author appearances in 2025, and I will have reached that goal after tomorrow’s vendor event. Naturally, I will be trying for 26 in 2026, 27 in 2027, etc.
As to the number of books I’ll try to sell each year, well, I will probably keep the goal at 500 and see if I can ever surpass it. If I do, then I’ll increase it.
The main goal for 2026, though, will be to finish and hopefully publish my next novel. This one has been taking longer than I’d hoped it would, but it’s coming — slowly yet surely, it’s coming. If you’re a paying subscriber, another portion of the first draft for the novel is provided beyond the paywall below, and if you’re not a paying subscriber, become one today and follow along as I write the 8th novel.
If you know anyone at all who might like my books, please tell them about me. Word of mouth helps sell books way better than any ad can do because people trust their friends’ opinions of things. I need to sell 2 and a half books every day from now until New Year’s Eve if I hope to reach 500. Can you help me clear that hurdle and make me as happy as the puppy in this photo?
Because this is Halloween, though, I want to give you something that relates to it, involving someone who is enjoying it more than I am at the moment. The YouTube clip is of Josh Sundquist, a hilarious one-legged comedian who I’ve seen and met in person, and I find his energy and outlook on life so refreshing. Watch and enjoy. It’s a real treat!
Until next time.
Tammy Marshall
Keep reading for another section of “Distant Dedication.”
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