I've noticed something as I look over Dataporn posts.. Except for a few scattered examples, most people who seem to earn a livable income by US standards (think 40k/yr) tend to be from a couple of years ago. Hats off to them, but I wonder if the context of the pandemic is lost on people just trying to get started or who (kind of like me) thought numbers would in general be higher than they currently are.

There's a lot I likely need to work on, but I have never had a book receive more than 100 KENP reads in its first week.Maybe it's my niche, maybe it's the pen name (the old one still sells well), a combination of factors are certainly at play. Yes, I'm using keywords, yes I've started to get my blurbs down. When I first started out even my less overly sexy blurbs and rough-around-the-edges covers got at least a few organic sales.I'm starting to think that looking at data 2-3 years out should be taken with a sense of "if they can do it so can I" not "this is a method to success". I imagine e there's some inverse incentive for people to post their data (e.g lots of DMs asking how you did it/niche/if you need book marketing help)... but still.