lay down and die

Should I quietly, shamefully withdraw from all public life? Just lay down and die?

So Your Book Released Into The World….Now What?

AN UNLIKELY COVEN has been out for several weeks now, and I have undergone my period of deliberation as to what I am going to do next. I don’t mean in a career sense—there are two more books on my Orbit contract and I’ve already turned in book 2. Also, in 2026 I will release my Secret News about another novel in a new genre.

I mean in the public facing sense. Because of my day job in publishing, and the Hachette author portal, I have access to my early sales data. I wish I didn’t, trad pub authors don’t seek this out. But I do, and I know that my sales are not very strong. In fact they’re kinda bad. Preorders were low and while bookshelves are stocking, I’m not moving very many copies. In the lead up to pub, I suspected this would be the case, but it’s honestly worse than anticipated and so I had to decide my next move. Quietly, shamefully withdraw from all public life? Just lay down and die?

Or, what I decided to do—go off the wall. My social media strategy has changed. I have begun a series of misinformation videos that I personally think are funny as hell. I stopped tagging my publishers in posts because I think they probably shouldn’t promote misinformation, and I’ve begun referring to my nonexistent following as “The Swarm” as in “a swarm of bats.” [This isn’t correct by the way, Google tells me bats are a colony or even a cauldron (wow isn’t that fun) but “release the swarm” sounds better than “release the colony” so, it is what it is.]

Why am I doing this? Losing all credibility in the eyes of the masses, running the risk of looking silly or pathetic or even being incredibly annoying? Why won’t I lay down and die? Well for the same reasons I wrote AN UNLIKELY COVEN; because I want to have fun. And I can perform poorly and have fun. I’d like to perform well and have fun, but honestly, all I want is to laugh amidst some very dark times, and forge connections where there were none before, and make sure others are entertained. For those who have read the book, that’s what AUC is all about.

I believe in the power of a backlist. Every trade review I’ve gotten has been incredibly positive. I’m rating well on Goodreads and everyone I know who’s read the book has truly enjoyed it. AUC might not be a “success” in a sales sense, but it’s still a big win for me. And if my continued marketing efforts boost its sales I will jump for joy. But if they don’t, I’ll keep going as long as it’s fun for me. I’ll keep going even though I know that sapphic books perform poorly in the marketplace compared to their peers, that Black books often struggle to break out, that I had a big publisher behind me, but the odds were against me, or things just didn’t quite hit, or it was too seasonal (well, it is a witch book). I’ll keep going because AN UNLIKELY COVEN taught me to be a writer before I’m an author, and in that way it was the biggest win I could possibly have fathomed.

Rate the book on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Goodreads. Vote for me as a Readin’ Award finalist. Subscribe to my newsletter, follow me on Instagram, and all these things help my profile grow as an author. But until publishing stops me (and it probably will eventually), I’m going to keep lying on the internet for likes and views.*

All the best,

Kvita

*Obligatory note to say that misinformation is, of course, a huge issue facing the world, in particular as AI ramps up the slop it spills out. I hope people understand my lies are good natured and not meant to be taken seriously. Think of them more like manifestation, and stop using ChatGPT