Archive for February, 2012

The Lone Self-Publisher

LoneAuthorWhen grandeur from a novel doesn’t come readily, people give up.

It is hard to carry on when you hear of those shouting their victories of yet another hundred, or thousand, goal has been reached; their dreams of their novel being purchased excelling and…you are not one of them.

I have watched those with novels suddenly vanish from the internet. Sometimes it is life that comes into play, and one must put their dream on hold for awhile, but I see the difference in those authors, because they say a farewell, and let the social network know that they have more pressing things to attend to. Then there are those that seem to disappear in the middle of a sentence, their URL address only giving an “unknown”.

It can be a lone travel when the purchases of your books is only a trickle. Yet it is the trickle that an author should rejoice in. That is one more person in a sea, an ocean, of billions of people who have found your book and chose to go into their personal pockets to purchase. It is one more pair of eyes, which share in the story you gave. So, yes, months may go by before another pair of eyes set upon your novel, but it is yet ANOTHER that has done so.

Each single, solitary book that is purchased is another step closer to receiving that flood of recognition. A trickle of water can still carve canyons. It takes time. And no, you may not be an Amanda Hocking, a Joe Konrath, a John Locke, but your story will be shared to many, which stands the importance of your story…to be shared.

Do not loose sight that you only write for yourself. If so, then you wouldn’t have it on the internet. It would be locked away, with a latch and key, like a diary should be. Do not fool yourself that money is not one of your goals, because the majority wishes to be famed, and what is fame without fortune. And to have fortune doing something you love is a dream in itself. And if it is not for fame and fortune, then it is for payment to stand self-employed, stand with freedom, to work your own hours to continue your art, your creativity, to share with the world.

When you write, you write alone. When you self-publish, you publish alone. But when one pair of eyes read your words, your voice speaks, and you are alone no more…but now sit with an audience.

Is Self Publishing Worth It?

There are so many questions pertaining to Self Publishing.
Is Self Publishing Worth It?
Is Self Publishing Profitable?
Is Self Publishing Easy?
Is Self Publishing A Good Idea?
Is Self Publishing Bad?
Is Self Publishing Really Easy?

I have asked these questions at one time or another, and repeat them even today though I’m going on three (3) years of having self-published books. I’ve had to remind myself of my priorities and what led me to actually take the steps to self-publish.

Is it profitable? For some it has been, but not for me. So, I’m not receiving as much money as I’ve put out, but the reason I decided to try my hand at self-publishing was because of the $25,000.00 I put into my wedding and honeymoon. Yes. $25,000.00!! A wedding put things in perspective. That was a lot of money put into my wedding for just a few days. My self-publishing efforts? Not even CLOSE to that much money, and my self-publishing is ongoing. I didn’t make a cent in 2009 and 2010, but 2011 was filled with readers and $$ that can pay for a few dinners. The main point was not the money, but to find a few readers, strangers, who would say that they enjoyed the story that I wanted to share. And I am so ever pleased to hear a few voices that continue to say just that.

Is it worth it? I must say that I am quite happy every time someone finds me and buys one of my books. It makes my day. The money I’ve put into it has been well worth it for just reaching one more person with my stories.

Has it been easy? For me. No. I would suspect it wouldn’t be easy for anyone who cares for the product of their work. The story must be scrutinized so that the writer doesn’t stay ignorant that their writing is “different” and “extraordinary”. In order to know what kind of story you have, strangers must become the audience, not friends and family. It is strangers who you want to enjoy and share with your creativity. I’ve also had to learn almost a dozen knew software to operate for my website, blogsites and even for writing (i.e. yWriter, Adobe, other features in MSWord). So my technical skill took a huge S T R E T C H.

Is it expensive? It doesn’t have to be if you do most of it yourself and take the many, many months to learn the software and craft of photo editing and writing and html or epub format. It could be completely free if you just upload and create only an ebook, but you must follow the programming and specifications of the distribution company (i.e. KDP Amazon, Smaswords, PubIT).

Is it bad? No. Many authors are self-publishing. It is only bad if you don’t learn from others on what a good product is. If you don’t seek help, then the product won’t be it’s best. When your art receives positive comments, it is then that you know that you have done well, and it is then that you will have your validation. You won’t need to have that need anymore to be validated by a publishing house, because you have received it on your own. And that’s how it’s been for me.

And my path has been an fun, self-fulfilling, and an extraordinary one :).

Until Next Time.

Novel Marketing BIG Advice

Some days ago, I read a posting on the cheerleader and voice of self-publishing, that REALLY opened my eyes about trying to market my novels. The things he had stated was a whisper of something I’ve heard before

Author are always given advice to talk about what they like to do, and what their thoughts are, to socialize and: blog about your ideas, Tweet about them, Facebook about them, and Forum about them…and They Will Come. The Readers, that is.

But according to J.A. Konrath’s posting (The Value of Publicity), that’s not what works and that’s not what is selling his novels.

Huh?

I heard a few other authors mentioned that they don’t do a thing with online socializing, and just write, and somehow readers find them.

Huh?

“Less Tweeting, more writing,” J.A. Konrath states. With that he emphasizes the basic facts that he’s always state, which is to supply more virtual items for your personal book store. Basically stating that you don’t want to walk into a store that only has ONE item on the shelf. You want to walk into a store with multiple choices. With the pure vastness of the novels you write, and with a good story and great cover, someone will read you and the word would spread.

Wow. More writing, huh?

I do have to admit that I’ve been sidetracked. I’ve been so busy managing my blog-sites and trying to make improvements and coming up with ideas and participating in forums that I haven’t really written anything more on my novels since NaNoWriMo.

Huh. Well. Let’s try it. You know my Motto.

DO EVERYTHING

Time to re-focus.

Time to write.

Until Next Time 🙂