Creative Reviews discussion

For those Amazon nuts who constantly check their Amazon ranking:
http://www.edwardwrobertson.com/2012/...
Personally, I don't care, as Amazon is not my only/main distributor - but then, I'm a no-marketing-I'm-writing-the-next-book writer! ;-)
And I have my prices fixed based on wordcount, I'm not experimenting with pricing - because I don't have time to follow what happens, so I just put a price on the book and move on...

To Self-Published Authors

I have met people who are energized by their own genuine enthusiasms here on Goodreads, as well as in other online communities. I have a deep sense of gratitude and thankfulness for the correspondence that has been established between us, and still continues. But in terms of Goodreads, a community now having reached ten million members if I have read correctly, there is an even larger confusion of purpose.

Being an indie author is not cute. Nor is it clever or respectable. It is not enough to think an idea followed through to a bound book makes one a serious writer. In reality, to be an indie author is to be prepared to wallow in not only the malaise and self-doubt that comes with authorship, but the general belief in your uselessness and irrelevance from the publishing world, which includes readers. Ever hear the phrase “If you can’t do, coach?” It’s unfair but no different. Ever hear “No one wanted to publish your work, so you published it yourself?”

I am an indie author, but I wish to rescind the label. And I know, above all and before anything else, I am looked down on because I put money and effort into producing my debut novel. Perhaps I’ve earned a modicum of respect for the financial and temporal sacrifice, which is in its own right a generosity of spirit from people as frustrated as myself, people who could easily have not offered that. And I knew this ahead of time. I knew it would be a gamble, of perception, reception and reward. But I did it because of my understanding of two things:

1. I believe in the relevance and importance of my novel.
2. With the evolution of the publishing industry, I recognized the level of difficulty in convincing an agent or editor to consider a debut novelist who can not guarantee a return on initial investment, as well as a marketing plan that is to be handled mostly by the author. Most good books...hell...most amazing books, spend their time in slush piles before seeing the light of day. I understand established writers and their contention when it comes to self-published authors perverting the system. (And it should not be a system. But because it’s become a system, a tacky machine of superfluous words, the indie authors’ negative reactions to being shoved off in to the margins as not being “true writers” are NOT valid. So prove yourself!)

But just don’t try to prove yourself by engaging in some factory of Likes, Tags and Reviews being exchanged for those who don’t even read your writing. Recently, I commented on a thread here in Goodreads about kindness, humility and gratitude. Someone responded, adding to the end of his/her comment that he/she wasn’t promoting his/her own work before doing it a few hours later in the same thread. And what has pushed me toward this conversation is that today, when corresponding with a show host for books and authors in Canada, the host told me he’d be interested in my book, but mostly he feels self-publishing is a hustle. A hustle. And he isn’t wrong, especially when I see something like what I saw last night on Goodreads: a “writer” was actually asking for help with plot lines for the book. And people were lining up to share their two cents.

Pathetic.

And so, we are not writers here. We are salespersons. And I see fully, now, what is wrong with self-publishing. I am proud of my book, inside and out, and pleased with the company I’ve paid to produce it with me. Not for me. But I am also completely satisfied with one person a month falling in love with my story, indefinitely, rather than one hundred thousand readers “liking” it temporarily just so I will follow their blog.

Wrong.

Damon,

You bring up some very good points. I myself have noticed the pyramid schemish-ness of the indie book world. There is still hope though. Let me share a few things with you.

1) Consider quality as your most important concern with regards to getting your book out there. If your writing level is outstanding, then you will stand out among the rest.

2) Consider going with an indie publisher instead of self-publishing. Indie publishers are not all roses, but they are considerably easier to wrangle than a New York big boy. The good news about indie publishers is that someone approved of the work besides the author, and they are willing to put their money and time and effort behind the piece because they believe they can make money with it. If an indie won't take it, than it's a good sign that the work is not ready for publication. Being honest about this and with yourself is incredibly important. You can find indie publishers here: www.duotrope.com

3) Focus sales efforts on building a readership, not on sale's numbers themselves. Know your audience. Ask yourself, who would want to read a book like this? Think about it. Then, create a blog and post free writing pieces on a website somewhere that would be interesting to these people. I have done this, and have seen my sales go up considerably.

4) Only do promotion when it targets readers, not other writers. I think this is where we frequently go wrong as indie authors. We target each other, but honestly, if we are all so busy writing are we really going to buy all of these other books? Maybe. But, it's not the best way to do it. I use other authors to "like" my amazon page or something, just so that I can look professional. But I do not try to get them to buy anything. They are my peers. It's a little disrespectful really to try to do that. For readers...look on Facebook or Twitter from phrases or groups that relate to topics related to your book. Talk with them, become involved. Blog and post short stories or poems for free reading. Let them get to know you. In this way, you make more friends...AND you sell a lot more books. My better sales numbers come from basically never trying to "sell" my books. I'm just active. I speak up about what I care about, and make my thoughts widely distributed and FREE. On that page will be links to my books. Done. It works. People will buy stuff when they respect you. You give them a little something of yourself, and they want to support you. And I'm hoping that slowly...over a period of years this network will grow.

One thing is for sure:
Facebook "likes" don't sell books,
Blog followers don't sell books,
Pitching to another writer doesn't sell books.
The last one being particularly true. I was at Chicon 7 last month and had a volunteer walking up to me and asking how it was going and chit-chat and then asked "Are you a writer?" to which I said "Yes" and he enthusiastically said "So am I!" proudly handing me the button of his book. Excuse me? Shouldn't you save that for prospective readers?!
I found one person who unexpectedly bought the printed version of my book at Chicon7. Because we talked and he asked me about my writing, and when he saw I had the book there, he decided to buy it. I was embarrassed, because I didn't know how much to ask - I had brought the printed copy to give away. But he insisted on paying for it.
Very humbling.
Now back to writing! :)

Dominae wrote: "I receive friend requests now and then. Turns out most of the time those people are vying to sell us their wares/services and invitations to their book events rather than knowing us as a person. Th..."

Totally true! Some writers just obsess and try to sell anybody - but why would another writer, busy writing her own stuff, be interested in yours? ;)

Interestingly, I've discovered that the things that attract people to my blog are either the features or the articles that are not about writing. In fact the biggest draw seems to be the quotes I put on facebook from my little boy. There are always lots more hits and follows on my blog after that... which, I hope, means that I'm attracting readers.

Cheers

MTM

I'm an indie author myself. First off, let me say that I TOTALLY AND WHOLEHEARTEDLY support other Indie Authors.

Before I was a writer, I was a reader. I read the latest from the "big named" authors, that I would quickly buy fresh off the shelves at the bookstore.

Then, I became a writer, and a whole new world opened up to me. I learned the struggles of being an indie author. I sat down and told myself I was never going to pick a big named author over an indie author again. And I haven't. It's not that I've black listed them. It's like choosing to eat healthy first before you grab that big piece of chocolate cake.

I do promote other indie's, I do review their work, I do pass on my promo stuff to them hoping they will pass it on to their followers. There is nothing wrong with helping each other out. This is why I am a member of Goodreads, where I feel like I've finally found kindred spirits.

This is why I spend my time writing/reviewing/blogging about myself & other indie authors.

Don't be ashamed to promote yourself. You've done the work, you've spend the time, you deserve to be seen.

We are 1.Readers, 2.Writers, 3. Salespeople

http://www.prideseries.com

I'm both self-published since 2010 and trad published since 2011 and have steady low-level sales. I was profitable last year. I write slowly because I'm a full-time teacher and a part-time tutor also. Those are my bonafides. Here's my view.

We have entered a new marketplace in which the author needs a more complex set of skills.

It used to be that writers just produced manuscripts, gave them to editors who cleaned them up, money was paid, and that was it.

Doesn't work anymore. Publishers were bought out by big media conglomerates whose practices involve minimizing author profit, taking away author rights, and treating prospective authors like dirt. Literary agents, supposedly the authors' allies, are really the publishers' allies. They won't make a living unless they devote themselves to finding what publishers will pay for. The author has NO FRIENDS in trad anymore. So self-publishing appears, to me at least, to be the only way the author can look out for her or his own best interests. No one else will.

So now in this marketplace, the author needs to add book production skills and marketing skills. (You need them because you can't trust anyone who wants to sell those services to you.) It's a new job description. It's a new version of the profession. I don't have these skills myself at the level I need to, but as I am working to gain them I have concluded the following.

1) Social media marketing only works for writers who are already popular.
2) Popularity for an author occurs when luck strikes those who are prepared to take advantage of it (skilled and talented). Skill and talent mean little without luck. Luck without skill and talent can sometimes work too.
3) Blogging is recommended by all the successful people but it is really just a means of extending present success, not generating success where none was. Blogging about writing is pointless. Who wants to read that? Do readers really care? You would indeed do better to blog about your cute cat.
4) The only things that work are word of mouth and amazon's recommendation system (or the equivalent thereof).
5) Your best bet is to keep producing material and diversify. Many books with low sales each still turns out to be money, and if you get the luck and one book takes off, you are then positioned to profit with all of the other books. If your work doesn't fall into a traditional category, it will not find readers easily; if you try to write in a genre you don't care about, however, because that genre is trendy, that won't work either. You have to write what you truly feel like writing. If it isn't popular, deal with it. Few people make a living as authors, and those who do have luck backing up their profiles. You won't make a living. Get a job and keep writing also.

I subscribe wholeheartedly to what Jill and Matt said! :) Yes, Lady Luck plays also a big part in the game.
BUT Mr Time also helps. Nobody gets rich in one year or two. I'm still in the red after 2 years. But e-books are forever. We might be discovered in 5 or 10 years - and eventually we WILL live off our royalties - and will be able to quit that dayjob.

Well said, Barbara. Said another way: once you're out there, available to be discovered, you have positioned yourself for future success.

I agree, I dont think checking your Amazon is worth checking especially if your in the millions. If your in the top 50 then by all means check that sh*t religiously but if your ranking is 150,343,654 out of 151,000,000(example) then why even bother.

Yeh, you know what they say, behind every overnight success is at least 10 years of hard work.

Cheers

MTM