If the dogs aren't eating the dog food

Short version of old joke:
The CEO of a dog food company, tired of his brand being the second most popular, spends a fortune developing a new healthy dog food formula, new cans, new advertising.
After the product launch, the brand goes from second place to fourth place.
Irate, the CEO calls a meeting of all top executives, and demands to know why the brand has slipped to fourth place.
No one wants to answer.
Finally one man works up the courage to tell the truth:
“Sir, the dogs don’t like it.”
 
There’s a lesson to be learned here, my friends. It doesn’t matter how much effort you put into something that is intended to be sold to the public. What matters is whether the public likes it. In the example of a book, it comes down to: do people want to buy, and read the book.
 
I write two kinds of books. First: Shorter, funny books. I did this to entertain people, and my financial goal was to produce enough revenue to pay my modest annual golf expenses. I am pleased to say that this goal continues to be exceeded, the biggest contributor being Hit Your Second Shot First.
 
Second: the JR Johnson Novels. For a self-published author, the Novel space is a very tough place to compete. Candidly, the monthly royalties I receive for the novels aren’t enough to keep a chihuahua in dog food.

I spoke to a book marketing expert. He told me to give up on the novels and write the short books. "You're too old. Novels are too competitive and you need an agent."
 
I could give up on the novels. I’m not gonna do that. I have a different strategy that I’ll talk more about next week.