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Have you noticed how many Indie Books are being published monthly?
I hope none of you have books scheduled to be self-published in December.
After NaNo, Amazon will be bulging from books written in November ...
hurriedly thrown together novels that may well bring
the pugnacious ghost of Ernest Hemingway to their bedside to punch them in the snoot!
Writing is a craft no matter the genre.
with no properly paced suspense or
carefully laid plot threads or dialogue straight out of Stilted English 101 ...
It is badly crafted ... and makes it that less likely that
a browsing Reader on Amazon will take a chance on your self-published book.
For $10, readers can subscribe to Kindle Unlimited and freely access 700,000 titles --
most supplied by Indie Authors.
And usually they are high quality, low cost books.
In other words, power readers have over 700,000 fewer reasons to buy our books!
We have fewer channels in which to be discovered than traditionally published books.
We are literally one book in millions of ebooks out there.
What can we do?
1) WE CAN WRITE MORE
The more books you have out there, the more likely you will hit upon a winner.
And we will have a back-list that will give a new fan new books to snap up
once she has discovered us.
2) WE CAN DIVERSITY
We can do paperbacks.
We can produce our own audio books through ACX.
ACX picks the prices but you can do short story collections or novellas which will cost the curious listener less.
3) GET BETTER
Which ties in to writing more.
The more we write, the better we will become. Read the masters whenever you can.
Learn your craft from novels you like. Study them like textbooks.
If you are not growing as a writer, you are becoming stale.
And stale anything from bread to books get tossed.
4) GOOD ENOUGH IS FATAL
Even your 99 cent book must be sizzle.
It could be picked up at a pivotal time by a pivotal reviewer.
Write it as if it is destined to be your Break-Away Novel.
5) END WITH LINKS
No, not with a golf course!
There are still book clubs out there.
Goodreads is a cyber one.
End your books with links that will lead your readers to sites which sparked your book.
You've written other books? Fine. Link to them at the end.
Here's a thought:
If a moment in your book speaks to a prior adventure,
LINK to that book at that juncture.
Hit while the reader's interest is aroused, while the iron is hot so to speak.
6) YOU ARE YOUR LOGO
Heard of Author Branding?
YOU are your brand.
Make each novel something of which to be proud, something that will linger in your reader's imagination long after the last page is turned.
7) BE NICE
The producer of the fiasco of the anthology with which I was last associated did not understand that:
THIS IS A BUSINESS. But ...
IT IS ALSO A BAND OF BROTHERS.
(Sorry but Sisters just lacked Alliterative Umph!)
The Indie Book Community is much like the characters in a Charles Dickens novel --
We are all connected in ways that will astound us in the future
in how our little kindnesses affected hurting souls ...
that encourage cyber-strangers to toot our horn, to spread the word about how great our novels are, to care if we succeed or fail.
Treat partners, fellow authors, and readers with KINDNESS, RESPECT, and INTEGRITY.
The Indie World, despite the explosion of titles, will get smaller and smaller the longer you are in it.
Be a constant source of positive regard and humor.
If you are naturally cranky and cross,
buy a cat and cuss him out. Cats don't care so long as you feed them!
Doors are not opened for bullying, grasping Indie Authors who only care about themselves,
who pout like immature teenagers when the world fails to revolve around them.
8) DARE TO BE DELUSIONAL
Dream big. Experiment. Long books not selling? Write short ones or collections of short stories.
Write a volume of Poetry: ZOMBIE HAIKU'S FOR THOSE WITH BRAINS TOO ROTTED TO EAT.
Hey, you'd spend 99 cents just to see what is inside that book, wouldn't you?
Do you think the creator of the PET ROCK was endorsed by his friends and family?
Who laughed all the way to the bank?
WHAT ARE OTHER WAYS
DO YOU THINK WE INDIE WRITERS
CAN STAND OUT
OR JUST SURVIVE?!
Oh,
Coming this October,
Roland demonstrates his inability to Learn!
You make a good point, Roland, about not publishing in November or December. I had been thinking of doing just that but recently figured I should wait until January after I've taken some time to position my books and promote them. I'll let you know if any idea or tactic works!
ReplyDeleteLet me know when you publish so I can spotlight them! :-)
DeleteHi Roland ... it's not as you say just being published .. it's engaging, relating to one's friends who enjoy our work ... and it is being different - not necessarily doing what others do ...
ReplyDeleteCheers Hilary
Well, I am certainly different. But my greatest joy of this writing dream of mine is meeting fine friends like you. :-)
DeleteGreat bunch of tips. I need to work on the one about writing more! While it's true that it's easier than ever to publish these days, meaning the market is filling up, the upside of the digital era is that we can make an impression by connecting personally with our readers. That just wasn't available to authors to the same extent before.
ReplyDeleteYou're right: the digital age affords the rare opportunity to connect with our readers as never before. :-)
DeleteI think these days it is all about building relationships with your readers and potential readers. Your list is a good one with worthwhile information. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI tried to be of some small measure of help. I answered the questions that often plague me. Thanks for dropping in and staying to chat awhile. :-)
DeleteOur titles all have links to the author's site at the end. A couple on Amazon have links to other books on Amazon, but can't do that with books going to iTunes, B&N, etc. (They sort of frown on that - LOL!)
ReplyDeleteMore books do sell more books. Keep writing.
You, too@! Best of luck with your Publishing Company. Thanks for being my friend. :-)
DeleteBe nice! So important.
ReplyDeleteWhat was Jimmy Stewart told by his mother in HARVEY? "If you would succeed in life, son, you must be oh, so clever or oh, so nice. I recommend Nice."
Delete