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By Heidi Gray McGill @HeidiGrayMcGill

For months, my sales dashboard looked like a photograph from the Dust Bowl. Book sales sat flat, page reads matched them, and my newsletter open rate gave me no reason to celebrate. As I always do in a drought, I wrote the next chapter, posted on social media, and mailed newsletters into ground too hard to take a seed.

Then one ordinary morning, a light rain came. Nothing about my routine had changed, yet sales and page reads climbed and held through the whole day. It was no downpour, but after months of dust, I welcomed every drop.

I have a running joke about feeding the algorithm a Snickers bar. You know the commercials where somebody cranky takes one bite and turns back into a pleasant person. We keep handing the Amazon bots a candy bar in hopes they will treat us better. My best theory is that the algorithm ate mine at last and showed my book to the right readers for a few hours, much like a toddler who behaves for as long as the sugar lasts.

By evening, the sugar wore off. The algorithm went back to ignoring me, and I went back to my guesses about what to send next time to earn another good day. Maybe it prefers a Reese’s.

What This Indie Author Learned From a Dust Bowl and a Snickers Bar by @HeidiGrayMcGill on @BRMCWC #Writing #Writinglife #BRMCWC Share on X

I can laugh about candy bars, but the frustration underneath is real, because I can do everything right and have no say in the result. For my last launch, every person on my ARC team posted an honest review to Goodreads and/or BookBub on schedule. A 100 percent response rate almost never happens. However, on release day and week when they posted to Amazon, the bots never approved several, removed others, and even banned one of my readers from reviewing for any author again. My readers had done their part, and I had done mine, yet none of us could change the outcome.

That banned ARC reader emailed me, upset, and had every reason to be. Nothing in my power could fix it. I wrote back that I was sorry and every bit as aggravated. My only suggestion was to file an appeal. Then I thanked her for her faithfulness in posting the review on BookBub and Goodreads and for also sharing her review in a reader group. After I hit send, I sat at my desk and wondered whether the effort was worth it. Both hers, and mine.

Paul says in Philippians 4:11-12 that he learned to be content in whatever situation he faced. “I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound” (ESV). If Paul had to learn contentment, it was not his default either. He picked it up in seasons he would never have chosen, and I suspect I am enrolled in the same class. A drought and a rainy day both have something to teach me, though I would pick the rain every time.

None of this means I should quit watching my numbers. Proverbs 27:23 says, “Know well the condition of your flocks, and give attention to your herds” (ESV), and for an author, the flock includes sales reports and ad spend as well as ROI from my ARC team. Paying attention to what works is part of the job. Trouble comes when I ask a sales report to tell me whether I matter. If I pay attention to those numbers, I can’t always tell if I am tracking my business or my worth.

For me, the answer boils down to knowing my purpose. If I focus on numbers, I will always be discouraged, but if my obedience blessed one person, the effort is worth it, rain or no rain.

I have no system to make rain fall on command, and I may never learn why Amazon accepts one review and bans the reader who wrote another. I sent the algorithm another Snickers this morning anyway, because showing up is my part and the rain is His.

The next time your dashboard dries up, pause before you refresh it and ask what you hope it will tell you. If the honest answer is your worth instead of your strategy, close the tab and write down the name of one reader your obedience has blessed.

Selah Award finalist Heidi Gray McGill writes award-winning Christian fiction that draws readers into stories of hope, grace, and redemption. Her Discerning God’s Best series brings the American frontier to life with historical richness and biblical truth, while her contemporary novels explore modern struggles with the same heartfelt honesty. She lives near Charlotte, North Carolina, with her husband of over thirty five years and treasures her role as Grammie to three energetic grandsons. Connect with Heidi and receive a free prequel at HeidiGrayMcGill.com. @HeidiGrayMcGill