End of year - time for reflection. I got two books to read, right before my second son came, and, wanting to spend time with sons, fell behind a little. They are ok books, but I couldn't plow through them as usual because too much was going on around home.
By virtue of not being on it constantly, the reads slowed down. What's bothering me is, if I don't go out and get them, they don't come in. People aren't out there just picking up the books and reading more of them..
There is slow improvement; a sale here, a sale there, some reads that come out of thin air, that kind of thing. Whereas I had zero total at about this time last year, now I'm impatient if I go even a day without something. But yes, I go a day, occasionally, with nothing.
I can't expect instant success. One problem is that I'm starting with a very limited audience of indie authors who know who I am and know what I write. I have to expand this population basically so that a large population of readers know who I am and what I write. I have faith that when they find me they will partake of my books either in ku or by buying them, but until they know, it's going to be slow. The population has to grow organically. I have to find other ways to make myself known.
A few people have made it clear that they like just picking up what I write, and reading it; they like my style and I give them the impression of a traveler seeing a place for the first time. For now, I live with that satisfaction: that I've found a few readers, and made them happy. It'll have to do, for now.
Fortunately for me it is still not really about the money. The family budget runs without the benefit of my $30 or $40 a month that I make off of this; if I fail, the family budget will be ok. We spend $30 or $40 on a single door dash anyway, and support our kids on other sources which are more stable. But I take pride in the fact that i don't cost the family anything, and it's an uneasy truce that I spend hours doing the reading that allows for that income, getting a measly income, and building the income slowly. The one thing I can say is that if I backed off entirely (due to health or whatever other concerns) I would still have an income of about $20/mo. from people who already know I'm out there and aren't reciprocating in some form or another, the reading I'm doing. It's this income of course that I'm after. I'd like to have a set of books that simply generate some income because of what they are, not because of what I do. I've been encouraged in this regard: keep producing, you're doing fine, I like what you write. But obviously I'm not there yet. And ironically the more I market, the less I seem able to write.
A Happy New Year to all, and to all a prosperous future.
Thursday, December 29, 2022
Friday, December 23, 2022
more woes & general discouragement
I talked to a friend about the ignominy of working the read-marketing sites. I think every author considers it a humiliation of sorts to have to read a book just to get someone to read ours. But I was at the end of my rope - how else could I get anyone to read them, without spending money?
That's an exaggeration, of course - or not entirely accurate. I can spend money, just don't want to, as a matter of principle, as I shouldn't have to spend money to make money. Or, I shouldn't have to risk losing money on the entire affair, which I think plenty of people have done. I lurk around the sites enough to know that the vast majority of new authors make a splash on their first printing, printing maybe a hundred or thousand and selling many to friends and colleagues, and in the end are like me, wondering why the world isn't beating a path to their door. I never did this, but have the same problem: the world doesn't know about me; I don't want to use the traditional publishing channels, and therefore my books sit there on the Amazon virtual shelf wondering where all the readers are.
I care a lot about the short stories, and for that reason have been fretting a lot about the short story audience. Where are they? How do I reach them? I know that lots of authors like my stories and think I should be out there doing well. I'm not. I'm out here wondering why nobody buys short stories. But I know it's just a matter of reaching the ones who do read them, and do spend money.
My author friend said, if you "look indie," they reject you. I'd like to know if there isn't more to that than meets the eye. There is a formula people use for blurbs, and I don't want to use a formula: does that "look indie?" Or, maybe there are fonts that are more common in the book publishing world than the ones I've chosen. Do mine "look indie?" I'm beginning to consider putting "proofread three times" or "no editing errors" on my books just in case I "look indie." But I also realize that I want to look indie. I am indie. Pretending otherwise would be misleading.
At the dawn of the new year I'm doing a little review of the year's activities. It's true, I've become entirely dependent on read marketing for the ratings that I have; what readers I have, are mostly other authors and possibly their friends. I have yet to get my paperback copies out into the world successfully. I hear a few good things every once in a while - that friend was nice to me, for example - and feel that I may have a slowly developing reputation, which of course I need. But I also go long periods - in this case about a month - where I am trapped into not writing because I have failed to plan out my novel well enough - and in the course of intensive read marketing, which I do instead, end up feeling like I've hit my head against a brick wall a few too many times.
Such is the business, and I can only hope it gets better.
That's an exaggeration, of course - or not entirely accurate. I can spend money, just don't want to, as a matter of principle, as I shouldn't have to spend money to make money. Or, I shouldn't have to risk losing money on the entire affair, which I think plenty of people have done. I lurk around the sites enough to know that the vast majority of new authors make a splash on their first printing, printing maybe a hundred or thousand and selling many to friends and colleagues, and in the end are like me, wondering why the world isn't beating a path to their door. I never did this, but have the same problem: the world doesn't know about me; I don't want to use the traditional publishing channels, and therefore my books sit there on the Amazon virtual shelf wondering where all the readers are.
I care a lot about the short stories, and for that reason have been fretting a lot about the short story audience. Where are they? How do I reach them? I know that lots of authors like my stories and think I should be out there doing well. I'm not. I'm out here wondering why nobody buys short stories. But I know it's just a matter of reaching the ones who do read them, and do spend money.
My author friend said, if you "look indie," they reject you. I'd like to know if there isn't more to that than meets the eye. There is a formula people use for blurbs, and I don't want to use a formula: does that "look indie?" Or, maybe there are fonts that are more common in the book publishing world than the ones I've chosen. Do mine "look indie?" I'm beginning to consider putting "proofread three times" or "no editing errors" on my books just in case I "look indie." But I also realize that I want to look indie. I am indie. Pretending otherwise would be misleading.
At the dawn of the new year I'm doing a little review of the year's activities. It's true, I've become entirely dependent on read marketing for the ratings that I have; what readers I have, are mostly other authors and possibly their friends. I have yet to get my paperback copies out into the world successfully. I hear a few good things every once in a while - that friend was nice to me, for example - and feel that I may have a slowly developing reputation, which of course I need. But I also go long periods - in this case about a month - where I am trapped into not writing because I have failed to plan out my novel well enough - and in the course of intensive read marketing, which I do instead, end up feeling like I've hit my head against a brick wall a few too many times.
Such is the business, and I can only hope it gets better.
Thursday, December 15, 2022
Read-marketing woes
Something happened recently that pointed out to me the problems of read-marketing, which has gotten to be kind of a burden on me lately. In general, it's a problem because I love reading and do it at the expense of writing, meaning I haven't produced enough lately, or done some of the other work I need to do. But it has some other issues as illustrated by this story.
One of the sites is read-only (actually a couple of them focus on that) but has a very careful admin, who makes sure people understand the rules and follow them. In general this admin is good but sometimes I wonder if she shouldn't just let a few things go. Recently I've been focusing on this page - reloading and reloading it, hoping that someone will post on the over-100 and under-100 trains. To put it quite simply, the number of books that I haven't read has gone down considerably, as I've been working these sites hard for months. And I've been relatively successful too, both because I like to read, and because I have 27 books that all need a little attention, and any time anyone reads any one of them it's a huge victory for me.
But to get into the train I have to find a book I haven't read, and that's pretty difficult sometimes. To compound it, other people who are like me, similarly desperate, have read many of the same books - we've read all of each other's - and they are prowling at the site the same way I am. I can tell because when a new book comes it doesn't take more than a few minutes for someone to pounce on it. They are just like me! Waiting for a book that can put them into the train.
With the under-100 train, the situation is good, because I can read an under-100 book in a quick evening and get an entire book of mine read - for that I concentrate on the short ones, under-100, but I have several of those so I feel like I'm not putting my audience in the same jam as I would if I kept putting the same book up there. In other words, I can stay successful as long as I can keep finding people who haven't read one of my books.
So this person comes along and puts an 80-pager in the over-100 list. Wrong list, but I figured, if she wanted to read a longer one, and found one she wanted to read, more power to her. Quick I put mine in there and started reading hers. Mine is 120-something, so I didn't feel too guilty putting a longer book under a shorter book. Besides, everyone can read the rules, right? If she's in there with her 80-something, I figured, no problem. Quick, someone put theirs under mine and we were off and running.
But the admin emailed me and asked me to either remove mine, or read the one above that one (which of course, I'd already read), because the 80-pager was against the rules and was removed.
Alas, we are at a kind of "stuck" status again, as a book about controlling alcohol consumption is up, and apparently none of our authors want to read it - it has, before, stopped the train for several days at a time. I'm not especially complaining about it. The guy needs readers just like I do and his book is at least as good as mine; he has a right to market it. But our progress and success seem to be bottled up behind the fact that either his topic is not appealing to a crowd of thirty or forty authors, or too many of us have already read it (I have).
In general this is probably a sign that I should move on, and that's what I'm doing, starting very soon. It's hard though; I'm somewhat addicted to it. Addicted to the rush of market success, addicted to actually having readers in any form, and even addicted to reading what's out there, which I find to be a fascinating occupation for a retired guy. So it goes.
One of the sites is read-only (actually a couple of them focus on that) but has a very careful admin, who makes sure people understand the rules and follow them. In general this admin is good but sometimes I wonder if she shouldn't just let a few things go. Recently I've been focusing on this page - reloading and reloading it, hoping that someone will post on the over-100 and under-100 trains. To put it quite simply, the number of books that I haven't read has gone down considerably, as I've been working these sites hard for months. And I've been relatively successful too, both because I like to read, and because I have 27 books that all need a little attention, and any time anyone reads any one of them it's a huge victory for me.
But to get into the train I have to find a book I haven't read, and that's pretty difficult sometimes. To compound it, other people who are like me, similarly desperate, have read many of the same books - we've read all of each other's - and they are prowling at the site the same way I am. I can tell because when a new book comes it doesn't take more than a few minutes for someone to pounce on it. They are just like me! Waiting for a book that can put them into the train.
With the under-100 train, the situation is good, because I can read an under-100 book in a quick evening and get an entire book of mine read - for that I concentrate on the short ones, under-100, but I have several of those so I feel like I'm not putting my audience in the same jam as I would if I kept putting the same book up there. In other words, I can stay successful as long as I can keep finding people who haven't read one of my books.
So this person comes along and puts an 80-pager in the over-100 list. Wrong list, but I figured, if she wanted to read a longer one, and found one she wanted to read, more power to her. Quick I put mine in there and started reading hers. Mine is 120-something, so I didn't feel too guilty putting a longer book under a shorter book. Besides, everyone can read the rules, right? If she's in there with her 80-something, I figured, no problem. Quick, someone put theirs under mine and we were off and running.
But the admin emailed me and asked me to either remove mine, or read the one above that one (which of course, I'd already read), because the 80-pager was against the rules and was removed.
Alas, we are at a kind of "stuck" status again, as a book about controlling alcohol consumption is up, and apparently none of our authors want to read it - it has, before, stopped the train for several days at a time. I'm not especially complaining about it. The guy needs readers just like I do and his book is at least as good as mine; he has a right to market it. But our progress and success seem to be bottled up behind the fact that either his topic is not appealing to a crowd of thirty or forty authors, or too many of us have already read it (I have).
In general this is probably a sign that I should move on, and that's what I'm doing, starting very soon. It's hard though; I'm somewhat addicted to it. Addicted to the rush of market success, addicted to actually having readers in any form, and even addicted to reading what's out there, which I find to be a fascinating occupation for a retired guy. So it goes.
Saturday, December 3, 2022
Author's Fair - first impressions
I'll have a lot to say about this, but this is the site where I put my innermost feelings about being a writer, so I feel that I can unload it all here without worrying too much about how it is "presented" to the "public."
I just spent four hours at the Galesburg Public Library hawking my wares. I put about 24 of my 27 books on the market, all out on the table, and sat at the table for most of the four hours. I sold nothing until the last five minutes, when I sold two (both A Dozen Crime Stories). Also in those last minutes, I made a couple of trades, thus unloading a few more books, or, to be more precise, getting them out there in front of people. To me it's a big win, getting books out there in front of people, and an even bigger one getting to know local authors and really getting to talk to them. So, though the place was not packed with eager customers, the ones who were there were nice, and I came home knowing a lot more about the area and its people.
I was lucky in the sense that the people directly around me were also Salukis, namely familiar with southern Illinois. I left a significant part of my heart there so it was good to trade books with Salukis and stir up memories and knowledge of the place.
The first thing that struck me was that there were several things it didn't occur to me to bring or even to have. One was little giveaways. The best little giveaways were cards and postcards, but there were also bookmarks and stickers. I thought this was very clever. One person actually asked me for a card and I didn't have one.
Another was the hand-held apps, ~%50, that allowed people to take credit cards as payment. Not everyone had one. But those who did, I thought that was clever. It made their lives easier. For the people who didn't carry cash, they could still have a successful transaction. It may sound obvious, but I decided that the best way to come into the modern world, if I were to keep doing such things as this, would be to buy one of these.
I contributed two books to the library: one to their general collection, and one to a special gift basket they're making for someone who wins it. This has to do with some library promotion; they are working on a brand new library which is a huge deal, but I figured that anything I could do for the local library would be a good thing and since they made that room available to me for an entire morning, it was the least I could do.
There were very interesting authors there - more about that later. I will take out my books and explore what else I learned, as time goes on. Western Illinois is a place where at least the writers are aware of who they are and what they are doing. In New Mexico, I'm sure this was true as well, but it was much harder for me to get involved when the closest town was 40 miles away.
Pix coming. I've just started mulling it over.
I just spent four hours at the Galesburg Public Library hawking my wares. I put about 24 of my 27 books on the market, all out on the table, and sat at the table for most of the four hours. I sold nothing until the last five minutes, when I sold two (both A Dozen Crime Stories). Also in those last minutes, I made a couple of trades, thus unloading a few more books, or, to be more precise, getting them out there in front of people. To me it's a big win, getting books out there in front of people, and an even bigger one getting to know local authors and really getting to talk to them. So, though the place was not packed with eager customers, the ones who were there were nice, and I came home knowing a lot more about the area and its people.
I was lucky in the sense that the people directly around me were also Salukis, namely familiar with southern Illinois. I left a significant part of my heart there so it was good to trade books with Salukis and stir up memories and knowledge of the place.
The first thing that struck me was that there were several things it didn't occur to me to bring or even to have. One was little giveaways. The best little giveaways were cards and postcards, but there were also bookmarks and stickers. I thought this was very clever. One person actually asked me for a card and I didn't have one.
Another was the hand-held apps, ~%50, that allowed people to take credit cards as payment. Not everyone had one. But those who did, I thought that was clever. It made their lives easier. For the people who didn't carry cash, they could still have a successful transaction. It may sound obvious, but I decided that the best way to come into the modern world, if I were to keep doing such things as this, would be to buy one of these.
I contributed two books to the library: one to their general collection, and one to a special gift basket they're making for someone who wins it. This has to do with some library promotion; they are working on a brand new library which is a huge deal, but I figured that anything I could do for the local library would be a good thing and since they made that room available to me for an entire morning, it was the least I could do.
There were very interesting authors there - more about that later. I will take out my books and explore what else I learned, as time goes on. Western Illinois is a place where at least the writers are aware of who they are and what they are doing. In New Mexico, I'm sure this was true as well, but it was much harder for me to get involved when the closest town was 40 miles away.
Pix coming. I've just started mulling it over.
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