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?