Most people generally don’t give independent writers a lot of attention or thought. Oh, they think about the famous writers and the ones that are publishing with the big companies. But the struggling, independent writer, who everyone talks about as the new future of writing is really a very difficult person to be.
To begin with, getting people to buy my books is almost a ridiculous battle that has no positive resolution. Friends don’t buy them. Family don’t buy them. Strangers don’t buy them. Oh, every now and then one of those people will say “Oh, I’m going to pick up your book” and then months go by and they never do. I have a colleague I work with who looked at the cover of my latest book and said she was going to pick it up. I smiled and realized right then and there: Wasn’t ever going to happen.
One of the biggest parts of the struggle involves how a writer gets attention. Social networking is great if you’re willing to spam your friends to death with novel information. I don’t do that. Otherwise, they probably wouldn’t be my friends any longer. I’ll read all of their updates about baby pictures and all that stuff, but I get the impression they mostly ignore mine. A few don’t, but they are the exceptions.
But in order to make it as an independent writer, especially one writing ebooks as well as regular books, you have to garner lots of positive reviews. That has never happened for me. I don’t even get reviews at all. People read my books, buy them at Amazon and all that, but they NEVER leave a review, let alone a positive one. So, I languish in unknownability (if that was a word).
So, I pay for Facebook ads that people click and then ignore. I pay for Goodread ads that people click and ignore. Maybe it’s my ads. Maybe it’s the fact that people just don’t support independent writers. I don’t really know. All I know is that I keep trying, and it’s not moving forward. Three steps back and then one more step further backwards.
But for all those who promised, or just care a little, how about picking up one of my books, reading it and then giving me a review. It might actually help.
Well, one can dream, right?
Hello,
If it’s any consolation, I feel your pain. I published my first book in 2010 and my second in 2012. I may, possibly sneak my third in this year, just in time for Christmas but if I do I’ll be lucky.
My books sell in miniscule quantities – I write fantasy, which is a pariah genre, in itself, but it’s also funny; oops, double yuck-whammy. However, I seem to be reaching my target market because the few readers I do interact with seem to like my stories. I’m not making millions, indeed I’m hardly making anything at all but am selling some books, every month. So first up, even if you’re only selling one book a year, if it’s going to a person who loves it and tells their friends, then that’s worth more than 100 sales to readers who didn’t enjoy it. Two readers like that have bought my book and they’ve sold it for me; to more people than I ever could.
Next thing, take heart. Any intellectual property needs venture capital before it’ll sell. Ask any inventor. Don’t be disheartened by the people who are making a lot of money on books, most of them were first to market, when authors were a novelty online and selling books was like shooting fish in a barrel. Others have lots of books published. If you are selling two or three copies of each book per month, that’s not much but two or three copies per month of say, ten books adds up. That’s 10 opportunities for readers to happen upon their work, too as opposed to one or two. Definitely shortens the odds of making a sale.
Next thing, ads are a bit hit and miss “I know half my advertising is working but unfortunately I don’t know which half” (Lord Sainsbury). Actually, though, you’re right, people don’t click on ads. Indeed, I use firefox so I don’t even see them.
So what do you do? Join in. Join some groups on Goodreads, join the Amazon fora and just be yourself. Don’t go there to sell books, use it as a water cooler, go there to socialise. Chat to people, rather then mention you have a book out, but make sure that your profile/name/signature links to somewhere they can find out about your books if they want to. Do stuff off line, meet people, offer your book to book groups, interact, ask you local librarian if they’d like an author to do a talk… it’s scary but it’s well worth doing, you get feedback and every now and again, someone buys one. Oh and do blog tours, guest posts, interviews and the like, find review blogs – there’s a great list at indieview – and submit your books to them like crazy.
Oh and one final thing. NEVER check your sales figures, rankings or anything else more than once a month, on the last day. 😉
I hope that helps.
Cheers
MTM
For what it’s worth, someone on Amazon.co.uk recently gave my first book 4 stars. It took them two years to buy it and the reason they gave was the fact that I’d never mentioned my book. So, find something else you do and tweet about that, but make sure your profile blurb says you’re a writer. Then when you do mention an interview, a guest blog post you’re doing or something similar, it will be of interest. One of my author friends posts short pithy comments about parenting a teenager, they’re so popular that his publisher made them into a book. Another friend is a farmer, his comments about food scares etc get him far more exposure than anything he says about his books.
Try not to sell, go into it expecting nothing and then everything you do get is a bonus.
Don’t force it, and don’t worry. If your work is quality you will get there, not to the top maybe, because you might not get the required fairy dust but you will get a following, and get known. Remember that behind every over night success is ten or fifteen years of hard work.
Best of luck,
MTM