Support for Indie Authors discussion

I wonder how many others out there feel the way I do. I'm happy in my little box. I create, I write, I have the freedom to let my mind wander. I didn't publish my book as a money-making venture, but I appreciate the idea that it could make money for me.

That being said, I haven't listed my book for free because I feel that the writing and illustrations have value. I published it in order to share it with others, and I want lots of people to read it and enjoy it, not because I want to make money, but because as an artist it's important that I touch the lives of others.

So when my graph lines on KDP are flatlined for more than a day or so, it makes me sad. When I don't have regular response from people reading my writing or looking at my artwork, that makes me sad, too.

Anyone else out there in the same position? Are you generally happy in your box? Is it a good place for me to me, do you think? Or should I be more aggressive about putting myself out there?

From what I'm seeing, you have one work published and it's only been published for three weeks or so. Getting noticed takes time. You already have four reviews on Amazon and they're all good. Just relax. Be patient. It takes some time to get noticed.

Being 'aggressive' could work or it could bite you in the behind. I've been flatlined for more than a week now. Of course I'm not happy about that, but I know that markets fluctuate and I will eventually see sales again. Just keep writing.

Just keep writing is advice I keep seeing over and over again, and I intend to. This week, I'm full-time Mommy, but next week I'm going back to 2k-4k words per day if my inspiration supports it! Thanks, everyone. I think that one of my biggest flaws is that I'm impatient!

I barely look at my graphs anymore since they haven't change, and my books been out for quite some time.

Mind you, I was one of those people who published without having the slightest idea of how to market, and it's something I'm only now rectifying.

I wouldn't say be aggressive about getting yourself known. More... be active. Blogs, social media, business cards, even just being social - get yourself known. But, yeah, above all definitely be patient, because it's going to take time. Probably a lot of time. As someone above said, that you have four reviews is pretty good (I only have two). But it may be that it'll be some time before you see a spike in sales. Don't let it get you down. Again, it takes time and effort to get noticed, but if you keep at it it should eventually pay off.

Melissa wrote: "I wouldn't say be aggressive about getting yourself known. More... be active. Blogs, social media, business cards, even just being social - get yourself known."

Good advice. I'd also add... write a few short stories. This is how I started and now I'm working up to bigger projects. Offer them for free now and again. It will generate some interest.

Yes sometimes, like asking what's going on or what's wrong? And then on the other hand, thinking my job is writing not peddling. I'm not a sales person anyway, but that changes overtime.
I personally cannot afford offering my book for free because: I looove my characters. I can't do that to them. And on a more serious note, I published through createspace and used all their publishing services, so I haven't break even.
I enrolled in the kdp select program, however, to increase readership, and started a blog to build online presence.
Good luck Missy!

Lena wrote: "Yes sometimes, like asking what's going on or what's wrong?"

Like Missy, you have only one book out and it's only been out for a few weeks. Relax. Becoming rich and famous takes some time.

Would you mind a little constructive criticism? I took a look at your book. The map. I would either redo it in a more professional looking manner or remove it completely. It's difficult to read.

Dwayne wrote: "Lena wrote: "Yes sometimes, like asking what's going on or what's wrong?"

Like Missy, you have only one book out and it's only been out for a few weeks. Relax. Becoming rich and famous takes some ..."
Thank you Dwayne. Have you checked the paperback preview? The goodread preview shows a tiny map.
But what about if you want readership but don't want to be famous?

Pseudonym.

Lena wrote: "Have you checked the paperback preview?"

Yes, I have. There is a country (?) called Thioindav (I think) in which a letter looks a little like a "d" or an "o" and I'm not sure which it is. Also, the last letter is right up against the border, making it hard to read. One word (looks kind of like "MeNes") has a line through some of the letters. "Hetchia (?) Glacier" is written upside down and tiny. I think the inclusion of a map is a great idea, but maybe redo it using a program like MS Paint so you can type in the names instead of hand writing them in?

I appreciate your feedback. I will take that into consideration for my next book. All the places are mentioned within the story, and the map is only used to help locate places. So there should not be any problem regarding names as they are typed, explained etc in the book.

Lena wrote: "Yes sometimes, like asking what's going on or what's wrong? And then on the other hand, thinking my job is writing not peddling. I'm not a sales person anyway, but that changes overtime.
I persona..."

I understand what you are saying but I think that you do need to give away FREE books in order to stimulate interest. For example, I'm giving away 20 FREE copies of my book on Goodreads Giveaways .. and the reason why? It's only been listed on Giveaways for about 4 days and already has attracted 130 entries. Since at least 120 people can not win a copy ... hopefully, by May 1st, when the Giveaway ends, a good proportion of those who were unsuccessful will then purchase a copy of either the printed book or the Kindle version. It's already received about 3 5* reviews on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk . Subsequent sales would easily cover the cost of the Giveaway. You can enter for the Giveaway on https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...

Desmond, I am not trying to burst your bubble, but per the experiences of myself and about 98% of the other authors I have spoken to about GR giveaways, do not be surprised if your book sits on several hundred 'to read' shelves and that is all. With twenty books, you may get a review or two, but if you are banking on a bunch of people rushing out to buy your book once they realize they haven't won, you are in for a bit of a disappointment.

Elizabeth wrote: "I personally don't think writers should give their books away for free anyway, Lena."

I think it should be an individual decision and not for anyone to say "writers should" or "writers shouldn't". I've had some good success with giving stories away. But, I realize it's not part of everyone's marketing strategy.

Writers that have great skill sets in writing and editing may very well not have any skills or desires to do advertizing. I am one of those.

Morris

Im with you, Morris! I'm happy to keep writing.

Just need to learn how to stop checking my KDP report every 10 mins and let it go!

For the most part, I'm happy in my box, but there are days I just have to ride through. Hang in there. Meanwhile, work on your next book. From what I've heard, subsequent books help sell the previous books. Have you tried little inexpensive marketing items like bookmarks or postcards? I sent out a batch of postcards to friends and acquaintances a couple weeks ago that generated a couple sales. I also keep a few of each in my purse to hand out wherever I'm at - the grocery store, the pizza place, the post office. My postal gal bought a paperback for her sister and then ordered an ecopy for herself. You never know when you'll meet a reader.

Good luck!

@Christina McMullen I don't disagree with your comment. Obviously many Giveaway entries are after freebies. I work on a conversion ratio of 3% which is realistic.The general point I was making was that if you post without telling anyone the name ,ISBN etc of what you are trying to get out to the wider world then you will sell Zero!

Yes, but over-mentioning it can have the opposite effect. I'll refer again to my old and worn out advice of just keep writing. Unless, of course, you really only have one book in you. For some folks, that's all they ever planned. Otherwise, just keep writing, just keep writing...

I was not referring to giveaways, but advertising like setting up/going to events/talks. If you're not that extrovert or don't have sales skills in 2015, it's hard, but you learn along the way. It's (sometimes) time consuming though.
As for giveaways, they're great since I can set up one in 5 mins and let goodreads take care of the rest until contest closes.

I will not presume to say anything that might be considered general, but for me, writing and publishing has been process of giving up on some notions of how much control I have. It comes down to: we produce the best book we can, according to our lights, we put it out there, and we let it go. Then we get to back to work on the next one. We don't "market" (we do blog, minimally), we don't do social media, we don't look for reviews, do giveaways (learned a lesson there), run ads or ...

That's not to say any of that is a useless thing to do. Only that we don't do it, because it doesn't suit us (or we it). We've (more or less) made our peace with the process and I think (for the time being) that's as good as it gets.

Owen, I keep getting that message over and over. Keep writing, keep writing, so that's what I'll do. :)

Desmond wrote: "@Christina McMullen I don't disagree with your comment. Obviously many Giveaway entries are after freebies. I work on a conversion ratio of 3% which is realistic.The general point I was making was..."

Christina's right, Desmond - please, please don't get your hopes up. I had giveaways end last week with a total of 1400 entries. I think it got me one pre-order. My previous experience has been the same. I still think it's a good way of raising awareness - at least people have heard of my books now - but the conversion ratio can be depressingly small.

I've been considering doing a giveaway but haven't really decided one way or the other. My first, and so far only, book has been out only for a week or so with no sales. I expected to need to do quite a bit of promotion once it was out, but it seems like I spend more time thinking of ways to promote than writing or tending to my other projects. So far, it's all good though and I'm happy in my box.

Lori wrote: "Christina's right, Desmond - please, please don't get your hopes up. I had giveaways end last week with a total of 1400 entries. I think it got me one pre-order. My previous experience has been the same. I still think it's a good way of raising awareness - ..."

I'm of two minds on that last point: a giveaway might raise awareness, but does it do so among people who actually buy books? A conversion ratio of 3% seems very optimistic. Our giveaway (350+ entrants) resulted in no detectable sales, one negative review (a useful warning to others who may not like aspects our book), and giveaway "winners" offering the book they got at our expense for sale on-line (which I find just rude).

As always, YMMV.

There's also the perceived value aspect of it and word of mouth advertising.

I think if you have a good product, offering it for free for a limited time can't do anything but help you in the long run, but the perceived value of it suffers.

I think the reason I've generated more sales from my shorts than from my full length release is because I offered them for free.

I try not to look at that stupid graph because I know it will only make me smash my laptop and I will be S.O.O.L. Especially when I know that some purchased 10 copies of my book and for some reason it's not showing. The sales will come, just take your time and get satisfaction that you were able to complete something that many dream of but few do!

I'm not happy...but I'm not sad. More like disappointed. When my book first came out I had pretty graph, that has now flatlined.

Like everyone rationalizes: this is normal.

However, this doesn't make it any less disappointing. You love your characters and your story. That's why you published. So, of course, some little bit of you believed that everyone else would love it and praise your marvelous brain for coming up with it.

When that doesn't happen it's a little sad, but like everyone says: just keep writing.

It is disappointing and makes you begin to doubt yourself. But one thing I have learned is that things never happen in the time frame that you want. Trust me it will happen. Take for example, when I ran my free download period, my graph was sky high and then when it went priced it fell drastically. I was devastated and wondered what was wrong. Then I just said that with so many books out there, it will take some time for readers to reach your work. Keep your head up and remember, even the famous authors of today were once in our unknown shoes!

Katie wrote: "I'm not happy...but I'm not sad. More like disappointed. When my book first came out I had pretty graph, that has now flatlined.

Like everyone rationalizes: this is normal..."

Yep, it's normal. Check out the roll-off on new releases in your genre on Amazon. In our genre, sales seems to start to roll off pretty sharply at around 6 weeks for a lot of books, and by 3 months they are usually down at a low steady-state ranking.

Authors with a series that is popular roll off more slowly, and their new release gives a boost to all their books. So they even out their sales overall. But then, they are popular and they usually have 6+ books out there (many have a lot more).

So nothing is "wrong" -- it's just life. (And keeping writing. The book you really want to take off is your 4th or 5th, not your first!)

Katie wrote: "However, this doesn't make it any less disappointing. You love your characters and your story. That's why you published. So, of course, some little bit of you believed that everyone else would love it and praise your marvelous brain for coming up with it."

I took a peek and saw you published only two weeks ago. It takes some time for people to discover you.