Welcome to the election year sales slump. Amanda Green wrote about it in 2012 and 2016, Sarah likewise. Uncertainty means people keep their money closer to their wallets. I’m not going to say “Fear not, fellow writers, things improve after [date],” because, well, we’re dealing with reality, not a cozy mystery or Hallmark™ movie. Our economy does not miraculously recover the day before the bills are due.

So, ladies, gentlemen, wallabies, and Minotaur, panickest thou not. Election years are always slow for luxury sales. The global economic slump is not helping, nor is the feeling of uncertainty swirling around. Will the economy collapse? Will inflation devour more of our income? Will [political thing] lead to [chaos thing] in my country, or that other country, or globally? Will the Cowboys win the Superbowl? [OK, easy answer on that one.] Everything feels up in the air despite the US election being over, and people starting to get a general sense of what economic and fiscal policies are coming.

What do we authors do? Keep writing. We are competing with beer, video games, video on demand, movies, and other luxuries, along with grocery money. But we make 0 money if we don’t have things to sell. Produce good books and short stories.

Can you reduce the cost of some older works? Perhaps not “first hit’s free” and permafree, but make the starter book(s) less expensive if they have earned out. That will build sales over the long term.

How are your covers? Do they signal what you want them to, when compared to others in your subgenre? What about your keywords, cover copy (blurb), and categories? Amazon has been tinkering again, and I’ve had to go back and make 1000% certain that all the stories in a series are still listed as in the series. And reminding the computer that “No, this is not adventure fantasy, but historical fantasy.” (Unless you are into mercantile trade and currency conversions, then it might be adventure. Maybe.)

Write, go through your odds-n-sods files and see if you have material for a collection of random short stories, noodle around with different ideas and genres. Things will improve. We are in this for the long tail sales, don’t forget. Write, publish, and be ready for sales to slow down. It happens every election year, and then things pick back up.

They say fortune favors the bold. She also likes those who are prepared, so Do Not Despair. Write, and be ready for the rebound. People need good stories, they want good stories, and we have them in droves. To paraphrase Kipling’s poem, “The Dawn Wind,” morning is coming, but not this instant. The night is still dark, but better times are ahead, so we need to be ready for them.

And if/when you need it, the crying towel is over in the corner, on the hook. Yes, the extra large one that looks like a bath sheet. Because we’ll all need it before next April, I suspect.

Be not afraid. Be wary, be productive if possible, be careful, be polite, but not afraid.