Yes its me again, with another dollop of trash and trite. What thorny issue should we deal with today? I have something in mind but I think I have visited the subject before. However, I believe we should look at it again because it can cost you, the author, both time and money.
When we complete our work and are prepared to show it to the world we have various choices to make most of which we may never have contemplated when we began this journey of discovery called publishing. Certainly most of us, and I include myself here, will have had little or no knowledge of publicity marketing and promotional work. Perhaps I was a little lucky in that I once ran plumbing business so had a modicum of experience, but plumbing and publishing are different beasts entirely though both require people skills.
So we have done it your book is ready and after sending thousands of requests to agents and publishers and you have papered the entire house in rejection slips like me you decide to embark on the self publishing route. It can't be that hard can it have some books printed upload the file to Amazon and wait for the millions to role in. How long did it take you to realise it wasn't going to be that easy? Weeks, months we all get there our friends and family can only do so much. Therefore we have to do something else to sell our work, we all congregate on Facebook twitter goodreads and every other site we can think of we go where we think we will be heard but thousands of others are already there doing exactly the same thing. We become lost in the crowd and still the books sit under the bed gathering dust.
What other mind blowing strategy can we try? We are so desperate to make a favourable impression we leap in without regard for or respect of the implications. Only in hindsight can we determine if our choices were good or bad. I cannot say which is ideal for you, all I can do is tell you what errors I made and point out another route. You then have to determine which is best for you and your pocket.
So we have done it your book is ready and after sending thousands of requests to agents and publishers and you have papered the entire house in rejection slips like me you decide to embark on the self publishing route. It can't be that hard can it have some books printed upload the file to Amazon and wait for the millions to role in. How long did it take you to realise it wasn't going to be that easy? Weeks, months we all get there our friends and family can only do so much. Therefore we have to do something else to sell our work, we all congregate on Facebook twitter goodreads and every other site we can think of we go where we think we will be heard but thousands of others are already there doing exactly the same thing. We become lost in the crowd and still the books sit under the bed gathering dust.
What other mind blowing strategy can we try? We are so desperate to make a favourable impression we leap in without regard for or respect of the implications. Only in hindsight can we determine if our choices were good or bad. I cannot say which is ideal for you, all I can do is tell you what errors I made and point out another route. You then have to determine which is best for you and your pocket.
When I began, I had a few pound to spend. How best should I use that small investment, should it go on an editor to mould my work into how they desired it to be or should I plough on regardless and leap into the unknown? I chose the latter. I went with a large vanity publisher, paid them a fortune and got an inferior service. In hindsight I now realise the product, while being a good story, needed a professional editor to guide me through the faults that existed. Harsh lesson learnt
After nursing my injured pride and depleted bank balance (I sold precisely five copies and gave away a dozen) I eventually began writing again and Dead men Lie is the result. it is however far different to the original draft. Unwilling to be taken for a fool a second time I discovered a lovely lady who has edited my book for me. When we began we were both novices, we learnt as we went along, we listened and became better. We failed a couple of times, almost got suckered by another so called publisher and I vowed then and there that no one apart from me would determine the destiny of my work. But the leeches still exist, even now we are occasionally fooled, not so often, but occasionally another plausible rogue crosses our paths.
How to get reviews? We all desire them, apparently it is what readers look at first. Do they, certainly some do but are they all important? Go into a bookshop and what do you look at first, the front cover, the back spurge or the authors name do you rush home and examine the reviews on certain sites before parting with your hard earned cash. I know that's being simplistic and the world had changed. But the principle remains the same we buy what we like first and foremost. We have to have reviews though, even me for my apparent disregard devour every review eagerly to see what someone has said about my work, its human nature to have nice things said about us. So how do we get these elusive reviews?
Certainly never ever pay anyone for a review. if you do you are prostituting yourself at the door of suspicion.Ask yourself if you can be sure that the review such people give is honest or even if they have read your work. Certainly I have my suspicions that some, not all, and certainly not the majority, but some reviewers cobble together their copy from the work of others. Maybe I am being unjust to the majority of honest and dedicated reviewers, but these are simply my uncorroborated views. I suspect though there is a modicum of truth in what I say, because in every level of society there is a under belly of rogues. So never ask for reviews certainly never pay and as i discovered never plead for reviews. I did that just recently, I got suckered into asking my friends to aid me with three reviews for a specific purpose. Guess what not one responded, therefore point proved, its far better to wait for genuine comments from genuine readers. They do come and I would rather have those than twenty sub standard reviews.
Certainly never ever pay anyone for a review. if you do you are prostituting yourself at the door of suspicion.Ask yourself if you can be sure that the review such people give is honest or even if they have read your work. Certainly I have my suspicions that some, not all, and certainly not the majority, but some reviewers cobble together their copy from the work of others. Maybe I am being unjust to the majority of honest and dedicated reviewers, but these are simply my uncorroborated views. I suspect though there is a modicum of truth in what I say, because in every level of society there is a under belly of rogues. So never ask for reviews certainly never pay and as i discovered never plead for reviews. I did that just recently, I got suckered into asking my friends to aid me with three reviews for a specific purpose. Guess what not one responded, therefore point proved, its far better to wait for genuine comments from genuine readers. They do come and I would rather have those than twenty sub standard reviews.
Now I fear we come to my pet hate. How do we, the self publisher, sell more copies of our work? Some will give work away, this is their prerogative but personally I despair at this tactic. Why I hear you ask. Consider this, name any other profession that charges nothing for their work I do not include charities in this. Bet you can't, as an ex-plumber I never undersold my talent. It took too long to earn my certificates to undermine my training by doing something as idiotic as underselling myself. To write a book takes time and effort so why should anyone expect to get my work free. If they want it, make them pay, charge a smaller price but for Gods sake make a profit, even if its a penny. I fell into this trap (Not the freebies) by giving my book away to people to review, I didn't get one back, all I did was lost the cost of ten books. You learn that those who down load free books simply move onto someone else when yours comes off offer. They win, you lose, what's the point? Oh I hear some authors laudably proclaiming they are number 1 2 or 3. in some chart or another but within a week they are back where they started and God knows how many copies out of pocket. That is my point of view, personally I would love the practice to stop but I doubt it ever will.
As I said at the beginning, this is my view on life, you may agree, you may disagree. That as they say is your prerogative, as for me, I may not be rolling in cash but I sleep soundly in the knowledge that Dead Men Lie, no matter how well it does or doesn't do, will happen through no fault of either it or its author. We have tried our best and will continue to strive for, if not perfection, than at least as near as we can get and we will have achieved it through our hard work and diligence.
here endeth today's rant hope you have enjoyed it if so perhaps someone would like to leave a comment would be nice to hear what others think occasionally.
Cheers D
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