Trail-Mix Readers discussion

We want to hear your success stories. Please share them us. But please, no gloating.

Lol! I read, "please no goating" and for a second I was like, what is GOATING.

I have a random success from yesterday. Sunday is the only day I dont post on my blog and I had more views yesterday than I had in the previous six days. I--don't kniw how that happened...I dont work Sundays so there was no promotions on my part, lol.

Oh, you can "goat" all you want. No rule against that here LOL.

I sold two copies of my ebook yesterday. In other places, I might expect to hear "2 copies? So what?" But we ALL know how hard it is to promote our books. So I'm considering it a small victory.
Thanks to CK Dawn for letting her 1-click finger do the talking! And to whoever the second copy went to.

2 copies is about average. Anyone who tells you they're selling thousands of copies a month is probably lying. So you're doing great!

Yep, I get very excited if I see 2 copies sold, so yay!

Congrats, Jamie. I wasn't saying it was impossible, just not the norm. I've seen One person claim that she sold 25,000 copies in two months, but her rankings said otherwise. I hope to get there one day myself

I have some good news for me. My book Kissing Demons has been selling regularly on Barnes and Noble. In fact ive sold.more copies of both my works there than i have on Amazon. I just found out today, because i dont pay attention to my sales much. It was exciting to find out im doing well on one retailer site.

That's awesome. I need to get out of Select and go to B&N, too.

Jessica wrote: "2 copies is about average. Anyone who tells you they're selling thousands of copies a month is probably lying. So you're doing great!"

I have 8 published now and have to sayit has been a slow steady climb, for sure.... For whatever reason, with, The Corner Booth, something "happened" and I have been averaging between 20 and 35 copies a day since April 19th... which has kept my Amazon ranking between the top 5000 and 8000 and these are paid (not giveaways which I have done in the past). I have tried to figure out the why because this is not my first book and it doesn't make sense. I think it is all a crap shoot really, and will keep writing because that is who I am. I love giving authors a congrats whether it is a sale of one book or 100! We all have the same dream. :D

If anyone is interested - I follow Theresa Ragan and she has a great section for writers and she posted this "ranking" chart that gives a feel for what your ranking would be by number of books sold.... here is the link http://www.theresaragan.com/salesrank... ... this is not 100% because according to her chart I should be in the 3000 to 5500 range, but I am happy where I am at.....

Nearly done with the edit for The Florida Caper which should be out in a month or so. For a sneak peak please follow the link: http://bit.ly/1C7vbiF

Kelly, it sounds like you have some devoted fans who are talking you up. That's awesome. And David, thanks for sharing :).

Successfully posted my next work to Amazon for release the anniversary of my FIRST book.

Novices comes out June 23rd. So happy!



Oh! I suppose this means I should do a teaser preview on my author page too.

K. M. wrote: "Successfully posted my next work to Amazon for release the anniversary of my FIRST book.

Novices comes out June 23rd. So happy!



Oh! I suppose this means I should d..."
WOOHOO! And yes, you better get cracking on that teaser ;)

Congratulations!!! So exciting :D

Kelly wrote: "Jessica wrote: "2 copies is about average. Anyone who tells you they're selling thousands of copies a month is probably lying. So you're doing great!"

I have 8 published now and have to sayit has..."

Congratulations!!! I hope to get there too! And Jamie is right, its because you have published repeatedly. I tell every author who asks that it's going to take an average of six years of publishing book after book to make a decent career of this and you are an example of why. Good job!!

K. M. wrote: "Successfully posted my next work to Amazon for release the anniversary of my FIRST book.

Novices comes out June 23rd. So happy!



Oh! I suppose this means I should d..."

WTG!!! Definitely post teasers and hype up your release date as much as possible!

Jen wrote: "I have some good news for me. My book Kissing Demons has been selling regularly on Barnes and Noble. In fact ive sold.more copies of both my works there than i have on Amazon. I just found out toda..."

High five!

And your novelette is right at the top of my TBR, I swear!

Kelly wrote: "Jessica wrote: "2 copies is about average. Anyone who tells you they're selling thousands of copies a month is probably lying. So you're doing great!"

I have 8 published now and have to sayit has..."

Congratulations for sticking it out and finally enjoying success.

Rachel wrote: "Jen wrote: "I have some good news for me. My book Kissing Demons has been selling regularly on Barnes and Noble. In fact ive sold.more copies of both my works there than i have on Amazon. I just fo..."

LOL! I already read yours! :P

On a different note:
Do you all want a place to post events and such that you are doing? I'm hosting a facebook event and it occurred to me that you all might be doing the same thing occasionally or on a regular basis.

That would be a good idea, Jen. i'm thinking of something to do on APC Facebook.

Jen wrote: "Do you all want a place to post events and such that you are doing?"

I'd love to have a central place to see everyone's events instead of having to hunt them down. Good idea Jen.

I now feel so good, I got 4 in one day and it's my first book. :)
And I've got thousands in a day to look forward to. Thanks Jamie :)

I second that! Keep writing.

Steve King got his first review on Amazon for Ben and Dave. If we all join together to review our books we too can become well known

yES! That's the purpose, Bryan: to promote each other so we all win!

I started a giveaway here on Goodreads!
(Never done this. Such scary. So excitement.)
My first novel's bookiversary is coming up, and I wanted to share the happiness, and nothing says happiness like a free book.

Here's a link if anyone wants to enter:
https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...

K. M. wrote: "I started a giveaway here on Goodreads!
(Never done this. Such scary. So excitement.)
My first novel's bookiversary is coming up, and I wanted to share the happiness, and nothing says happiness li..."

Entered and added to my To Read shelf! Congrats on your bookiversary!

Lu wrote: "I sold two copies of my ebook yesterday. In other places, I might expect to hear "2 copies? So what?" But we ALL know how hard it is to promote our books. So I'm considering it a small victory.
Tha..."


I'll be one-clicking your next book too! I was completely drawn in by your cover Lu! The fact that it's attached to an amazing person has been a joy of a discovery and I can't wait to get to Bloodmarked on my TBR!

C.K. wrote: "I'll be one-clicking your next book too! I was completely drawn in by your cover Lu! The fact that it's attached to an amazing person has been a joy of a discovery and I can't wait to get to Bloodmarked on my TBR! "

Thanks! It's good to 'meet' great supportive people. Makes the process a little less daunting. :)

Lu wrote: "Entered and added to my To Read shelf! Congrats on your bookiversary!
"

Thanks! Hard to believe it's been a year already. My baby's all grown up. :)

I'm really excited about the giveaway. I have a few signups already and it's only the first day. So gratifying, when anyone shows interest in my worlds and people.

I dream of the days of 'two.' I dream of the days of 'one' as well. Most days I just dream.

Go Lu! That's two more people who can spread the word about your books.

Congrats to everyone above, from the first book published to the eighth from the two sales to thousands. It's quite a journey isn't it? I am about half done writing my fourth novel but what's even more exciting is I got my new website up. Yeah! There are still a few bugs to work out, transferring a website from one theme to another, not so fun, but it's coming and I love the new look. Great group. Sorry I've been somewhat absent - crazy life. I will work to be more present here in the future.

Wonderful, Maggie. We'd love to see more of you.

After a tremendous amount of tears, hair-pulling, and object-throwing, I finally realized that my upcoming work Glass would be better off written as a collection revolving around the same characters. While thinking of a way to get Glass to work (because everyone, including my husband, was telling me it was confusing the hell out of them.), and I guess wait for the vision to somehow magically appear, I took what was originally a minor subplot in Glass (intending to write it as a pre-novel while I waited) and wrote a full plot outline from it. Then it hit me: I could still tell the story I want to tell to tell as a collection. It will be called the Cadiz Beach Collection (one of my FB group members told me that my particular plot line might not be received well by the folks in Jacksonville and suggested that I do as I did in Ice-invent a small fictitious town outside of the "real" setting. That also gave me the idea to also do a Minterville collection so I can (a) strengthen some of the characters from Ice (b) delete the excessive backstory in Ice but still have a chance to tell it and (c) most importantly, give the Ice Queen a dose of Minterville justice! I am now a huge fan of collections and serials.

Welcome Maggie!

Jessica wrote: "After a tremendous amount of tears, hair-pulling, and object-throwing, I finally realized that my upcoming work Glass would be better off written as a collection revolving around the same character..."

(((((Jessica))))) sending you good vibes and a big ole hug.....I like how you are processing it!!!!

Jessica wrote: "After a tremendous amount of tears, hair-pulling, and object-throwing, I finally realized that my upcoming work Glass would be better off written as a collection revolving around the same character..."

Yay Jessica. Isn't it funny how when you start writing you think you have a plan in place only to find it just won't work? And then you discover it's morphed into something much bigger? Good job and congrats on the new ideas. I had a similar experience, swearing I'd never write a series, only to discover that oh yes I was. ") Best of luck with the writing. Sounds great.

Kelly wrote: "Welcome Maggie!"

Thank you Kelly. Nice to 'meet' you.

Maggie wrote: "Jessica wrote: "After a tremendous amount of tears, hair-pulling, and object-throwing, I finally realized that my upcoming work Glass would be better off written as a collection revolving around th..."

I think the series is my new best friend. One recurring critique I'm getting on Ice is there's too many characters and too much backstory. There's not much I can do about the number of characters-the complexity of the plot depends on them all-but I can eliminate some of the flash backed backstory and make it Ito a separate story. This has the added advantage that I can further explain the versions back stories (which are essentially told by two narrators as they are doing mundane activities-lame, but a common newbie error), further develop my characters, and focus more on the main action of the plot.

I may be completely wrong here, but I'm beginning to believe that the key to a good series is to make each novel a satisfying novel in its own right; that is to say, they don't necessarily have to read book 1 to understand book 2 (although you do want to give them enough teasers to get them interested in the other books). I've been hesitant to write any type of series up to this point; if the first one flops, there's really no point in writing the others. I've just seen so many times when a writer writes a series of 4-6 and with each one, there is a significant decline in ranking and positive reviews, even when you factor in time since publication. This indicates that readers have lost interest in the series.

"Wheel of Time" by Robert Jordan et al ?

Jamie wrote: "Jessica, this is fairly common, and it's the reason my writing mentor (Holly Lisle) says to make each book stand alone. Now, she was talking about traditionally-published books, where the publisher..."

Haha. Just running my mouth and getting ides out. I won't be doing anything with the Minterville series until I finish my current project because, as you say, readers can pick up when an author's not into a story. I also though about doing several series and writing them on a rotating basis (if that makes sense). That will give the new idea the chance to fully form and my enthusiasm for the storyline to not fade.

I think writers sometimes shoot themselves in the foot when they start off planning a series. I know my son is so hell bent on his series that he's rushing the first book convinced it will unlock a fortune in sales without realizing critical and sales failure will kill any chance of a series.

I have written only one novel that I really thought could develop into a series once I finished it. The second novel is a challenge to make sure it doesn't simply build on a formula from the first. To me the idea is to make sure each novel is a good book regardless of the ones around it.

When I see a book listed as the first in a series it's almost a disincentive to buy because I feel like the author will probably have put less energy into the book itself to invest in the long term story. I prefer series like Connolly's Charly Parker series that start with a good book and then build off the character because reader response demanded it.

Phillip wrote: "I think writers sometimes shoot themselves in the foot when they start off planning a series. I know my son is so hell bent on his series that he's rushing the first book convinced it will unlock a..."

Phillip wrote: "I think writers sometimes shoot themselves in the foot when they start off planning a series. I know my son is so hell bent on his series that he's rushing the first book convinced it will unlock a..."
That's why you write each novel so it can function well on its own. I never planned on making Ice a series, but now I'm planning a whole Minterville Saga. Ice will be book 5 even though it was the first published. The first will James Minter's story (and will explain how he got the Minter), the second will be Tom's story, the third will be Barbara's story, the forth will be the tragic events of 1993, the fifth will be Ice and the sixth will be called "Chill" where the Ice Queen gets a dose of lethal Minterville justice! I'm gonna do that one when I finish my current project. The mistake that authors make is place everything on the first book of a series. If the first one flops, there's no point in writing the others. The way I'm planning on writing them, they don't have to be read in any particular order to make sense.

Chill - I like that title

Jamie wrote: "Jessica, this is fairly common, and it's the reason my writing mentor (Holly Lisle) says to make each book stand alone. Now, she was talking about traditionally-published books, where the publisher..."
I was planning to do it rotation style. For example. I have Ice, so now I'll write a book from a different series (right now, from the Vinny McPherson Case Files). Next I may write the second book to the Minterville series, the second Vinny book, or start a new series. I won't tie myself to any particular order or time line. I think you are 100% correct that readers can tell when the writer is not into the work and is only churning something out to meet a deadline (mandatory or self-imposed). I can always tell which book Stephen King wished he was on vacation when he wrote. He has a particular attachment to Cujo and his Castle Rock novels, but didn't seem as enthusiastic about his Dark Tower series. And in Four Past Midnight, he started off with all the enthusiasm of a new book in The Langoliers, it tapered off slightly in Secret Window, Secret Garden; The Library Policeman was horrendous, and by the time he got to the Sun Dog, he was ready to go on to Needful Things, so he just made the Sun Dog a prequel to Needful Things.

OK Everybody make sure you're seated for this news - I just found out I made the top 100k of authors on Amazon :) - only 99,999 to go
I'm even higher in Romance - maybe I'll actually sell something soon :)

Paula

Jamie wrote: "Jamie wrote: ""Wheel of Time" by Robert Jordan et al ?"

Yeah! That's the one my husband's reading.

However, I have a different point of view from Phillip's on planning a series. A successful ser..."
I'm going to second Jamie and also add that even among traditionally published authors, the first published novel is rarely the one that "makes it big" Stephen Kinh wrote (I think) 5-6 novels before making it big with Carrie, and even that's not his best work. Suzanne Collins published a whole series before the Hunger Games made her a household name. Your son needs to understand that being a success in writing requires patience, persistence, and a genuine desire to refine one's skills as a writer. That means listening to the voice of experience (something it doesn't sound like Bryan is willing to do), finding a trustworthyy mentor, something I need to do. In fact, One day, I may create a mentoring program for new authors here with APC. And in Bryan's case, finding a decent cover artist (I still highly recommend Dane Low at ebook launch.com, but it's doesn't sound like your son can afford a professional right now. If there is an art college near your hometown, he may some luck getting an art student (not a high-schoolers, mind you, but someone who has access to some graphic design software. The kid who designed that cover is a talented painter, but a watercolor painting on art paper isn't gong to make an attractive book cover), and about crating niches (I'm going to address this in a blog later.). And Philip: when are we going to see the sequel to Cigerets? I wanna know what's next for Dodd and Rhonda, and if Preacher ever gets the justice he deserves.
And I am four chapters into my rough draft for Earth, with no writer's block. I am so killing this!