So here we are 4 years later (5 years?). We still exist. But we haven't "hit it big".
The trouble is, marketing.
Really simple: 4 P's.
Product - our product(s) is(are) very good; customer feedback, reader satisfaction, and positive reviews in official media confirm this.
Price - the price is certainly reasonable. It does not compete (or try to) with the "penny horribles" at the Crazy Store, but it is not as pricey as the books in a certain chain...
Position - that is where we fall smack on our faces. (No thanks to a certain bookshop chain who told us to get reviewed by the country's most respected reviewer before they would bother stocking our books.)
and Promotion. In this self-same blog and its sister-blog, the P'kaboo Blog, I detailed often enough our loud, active, off-the-wall style promotion. Also, the Solar Wind has been reviewed several times now, and four times (4!) in mainstream printed media (newspapers, a glossy mag). But without positioning, the promotion can go nowhere. People read about the series and want to buy it, can't find it and give up.
Where is your book's best position?
Right in your reader's face. He has to walk into it around every corner until it is such a part of his reality that he can't help but pick one up out of curiosity.
How does one get into a reader's face?
Positioning.
Ok this is circular logic, but it should be obvious from this that having the book shoved in your face is a lot more effective than reading a review. What sells the book best is - well - the book!
Going to work on this a bit, but from all this it should become clear that right now the name of the game is distribution.
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