I had to do this for a couple of reasons. The most pressing one is the fact that I’m behind schedule in writing Love Lessons With The Duke AND I just realized I need to go back and change a couple things (in addition to adding about two or three scenes).
I could try to rush through it and get it done, but I don’t want to do that anymore. Since I’m self-publishing these, I can do that. I want the book to be the best it can be, and after pressing myself so hard to finish four books this summer, I’m still exhausted. Sprinting took more out of me than I expected. While the method paid off wonderfully, I think it might work best for authors who can plan out the book ahead of time. (Just a guess.) What I know is that I can’t do it unless I have a plan in place, and most of the time, like with this book, I don’t have a plan. I’m figuring out what I need to do as I go along.
While I pushed back the publishing date for Love Lessons With The Duke, I decided to push back the dates on the other two books I have in pre-order status, too.
I put His Convenient Wife down for January 3 since I want a book out in January.
Love Lessons With the Duke will now be out on February 14. This way I have plenty of time to write it as it’s supposed to be and get it edited with my team.
Then I decided to push back Royal Hearts to July 4 because (to be honest), it’s going to be one of my least popular books.
My weakest (aka least popular) books should be later in the year and my strongest books should be at the beginning of the year. This is what I’ve noticed after self-publishing ebooks for five years. So I’m better off not having another book out for the rest of the year.
Ruth Ann Nordin's Author Blog 
You definitely want the best books out early in the year. I’m beginning to think I won’t have one for January. 😦
His Convenient Wife is a very good choice to have out right after everyone has their new Kindles and Nooks!
Having any new book out this time of year is starting to feel like wasting all my energy. It’s hard to gain any kind of momentum. This being my fourth year of watching sales trends, I’ve noticed that every year has seen a drop in sales this time of year, even with new books out. I’d say Kindle Unlimited was a big factor in this if I wasn’t seeing the drop in other channels as well. This quarter at Smashwords, I’m seeing my lowest royalties since 2010. Usually, January and February is when things pick up again, which is why I need the most books possible from January on. So His Convenient Wife has to take that slot. I moved Royal Hearts all the way to next summer because contemporary fantasy romances just don’t sell well anyway.
As much as I’d like to say as an artist, I’m led completely by passion, I can’t do it. I need to think like a business person and write books that have the best chance of selling. It’s just the nature of the business.
Oh, I think anywhere from January to March are your best months, so you have some leeway at the beginning of the year. I’m trying for another regency in March at this point. *fingers crossed*
I almost wish I’d waited until after Christmas to publish Fire Wizard. It did pretty well at first and was gaining momentum, but then it dropped back off. I think it’s because my strongest followers got their copies all at the same time.I’m still waiting on 3 more reviews so I can do an ad with Fussy Librarian. My mom just reviewed it, but it’s taking Amazon forever to put up her review. And Anya is going to read it and review it, so that would leave one more.
It’s amazing how you have to watch trends and when the best times to publish might be. Like you said, it would be nice to be led by passion only, but we have to think of the business strategies.
I’m hoping there’s another increase after the New Year, as there has been each year since 2010 when I started tracking sales trends. There’s always the chance the cycle won’t repeat. Hopefully, it’ll boost your sales up. Maybe I should look at doing the Facebook party in January instead of December. What do you think?
I hope you get those reviews.
It would be nice if we could be directed by passion. There would be a lot less stress. 🙂