[PROGRESS THREAD]: Six-figure Fiction

[Thriftypreneur]

What to do when people think your baby is ugly?

Not really much "progress" to report, but I feel like thinking out loud. For writing, I haven't done much of it for book 3 of this series. I've been dealing with a lot of real-life issues and doing research, but getting back to writing this week (fistpump). That is one thing I do like about this writing thing... granted we all want good production, but you can continuously add to your catalog at your own pace, forever. That's a good thing with everything going on for me.

My sales so far have been abysmal. While I still had book 1 in KDP Select, after releasing novella 2 in this series, I did a 3-day free promotion which netted a total of 1 sale of the second title and zero of the first.

Book one sales started out slow, but encouraging. Gathering a few in September, but since October, the book is ranked 700,000 and climbing. Book two released to a 300,000 rank and is also climbing. Needless to say, you're not getting any sales at these ranks. It's the "slush pile."

Obviously I didn't expect to come out of the gate with massive numbers, but it's still pretty discouraging. I haven't had any returns or bad reviews (or any reviews for that matter), but the numbers tell me my work isn't well received.

Which leads me to take a cold hard look at the series and my plan. Here's some of my observations regarding my experience and my ongoing research of indies that are doing well:

1. Novellas acceptance seems to be highly dependent on genre.

I was really, really attracted to the idea of being able to build a catalog at a reasonable pace through novellas. However, I think due to my inexperience, I may have chosen a genre that novellas simply don't work in. I see people posting pretty regularly about how they're quickly building a catalog of novellas and shorts and building a $60,000/year income from their writing. What I failed to take notice of, is that these novella publishing success stories all seem to be in romance and/or erotica genres where shorter works are accepted and embraced.

I just don't see any novellas topping any charts in other genres I've looked at. This was my first mistake. I was attracted to the novella publishing model and didn't look closely enough at it before I got started, which landed me in a genre that appears to be novella adverse. From the research I've done in my genre and related genres (more on that later), these people want novels, not novellas - and that's a problem.

It's like trying to get a novella series to take off in the Epic Fantasy genre (where readers expect 500+ page tomes with every purchase), it's just not going to happen.

2. I didn't genre select well enough before writing

This is another area I think I made a mistake on. I was so eager to get started and brimming with excitement, that I failed to really drill down my genre and what the readers want in that genre. As I've continuously researched Amazon best-seller lists and various genres and writers, something occurred to me: this is a competition; a competition for the genre's (and Amazon's) attention.

Every internal promotional list on Amazon (read: the internal promotion that can make multi-millionaire writers) is based on popularity, and every book you release to a genre is a stake in that competition for internal promotion and audience attention. Luckily, there are many sub-genres to compete in.

Looking at it this way, as a competition, it makes a whole lot more sense to do the best you can to release something the genre expects (as far as subject matter, page counts, covers, etc). If you don't see a novella anywhere notable in your sub-genre, it makes sense to think that releasing one is already putting you at a disadvantage in this competition. If the readers in your genre like and want novels, they aren't magically going to embrace your novella or short story unless it's really, really good and/or really, really cheap.

3. KDP Select and Promotion

Far and away, I think this was my biggest mistake. Many authors believe that a lead in perma-free is some of the best promotion you can do for yourself. And since I'm not really qualified for Bookbub or similar promotions (most of the promotion sites I've found seem to despise novellas and short stories, and books with little to no reviews), I've determined this to be my most powerful marketing avenue. However, since putting my first book in KDP Select, I likely won't be able to get the title to perma-free status until January or February of 2014. Big, big misstep there.

I think getting some Amazon internal promotion is easier on a new title rather than trying to dig a title out of a 700,000 ranking hole (I may be completely wrong though). I'm lead to believe that Amazon internal promotion is based on popularity, sales history and ratings. If a book is published and then it's immediately followed up with a burst of sales, Amazon is going to give you more internal promotion love than a book that's been sitting at 700,000+ and gets the same small burst of sales.

It's why you can see on their best-sellers list they go to great lengths to track the rising and falling of book ranks and update their lists hourly, they want to push what's hot and get under-performing titles off their lists. Of course, this is all just speculation, but it makes a lot of sense when you look at it from Amazon's perspective.

The only thing I can relate it to is Chess or competitive game ratings. When you're a brand new player, you start out with an average rating and as you compete against higher and lower rated opponents, your rating fluctuates wildly. As you play more and more games the fluctuations stabilize and you no longer receive massive increases or decreases in rankings based on your wins and losses.

I think it's a similar thing with Amazon. When you release a title, it has a clean ranking and initial sales are going to affect the internal promotion you get to a large degree. As days pass and those sales increase or decrease, your internal promotion levels out. I think this is why some people can just put something out there, do little or no promotion, and sell a few hundreds copies their first month. You could further speculate that not only book sales history, but author sales history could play into some of this as well.

Now what?

Now, having got all my thoughts and speculation out, where I'm at now is deciding how to proceed (Not quitting! Just need to change my plan, I think). Since perma-free advertising is the direction I want to go (because, hey, it's free!), I think I have two main choices:

1. Rewrite my novellas to be novels with a prema-free novella lead-in (or abandon the series and just start anew).

I think, for me, the publishing model that would work best for the genres I'm interested in looks like this:

- Prema-free novella for hands-free promotion that leads into a novel trilogy. (20k-40k words)
- Novel one of trilogy (70k-100k words)
- Novel two of trilogy (70k-100k words)
- Novel three of trilogy (70k-100k words)
- Omnibus of trilogy

That, to me, would be one product. Naturally, build an email list with it, and when the next product is ready to launch, starting with a new perma-free lead-in to your next trilogy, blast that email list with every new release. Release these "products" 3-4 times a year, and there's your publishing model.

2. Abandon current series/pen name and switch to a genre that likes novellas (romance/erotica).

I think the publishing model for this would contain more installments and look similar to this (erotica titles probably wouldn't be this long, but it's just an example):

- Perma-free novella lead-in (20-40k words)
- Novella series book 1 (30-40k words)
- Novella series book 2 (30-40k words)
- Novella series book 3 (30-40k words)
- Novella series book 4 (30-40k words)
- Novella series book 5 (30-40k words)
- Novella series book 6 (final) (30-40k words)
- Omnibus

I notice that when a series go over 5 or 6 titles without a conclusion, readers start to get pretty pissed off, so I don't think I would have more than 6 titles per series. This is also one "product" to me. Do this 3-4 times a year, each containing 5 or 6 individual releases, and there's that publishing model.

I should note, however, that I really, really don't want to write in erotica for the simple fact that erotica writers are constantly targeted for obliteration. It's not something I want to deal with and fight against. So that genre is probably out.

I think if one identifies their home sub-genre and pumps out these "products," if you're good enough, you can really dominate some of these sub-genres. There's some you can see already where writers are doing just that, and in their particular sub-genre, they may own 3, 7, 10 of the top 20 spots. It reminds me of targeting keywords in Google and doing whatever you can to dominate all of the top 10 spots.

Anyway, I guess I need to figure out where I really think I can "compete" and get to making some decisions on how to go forward. If anyone has any advice to share, I'd love to hear it. Oh, and congrats to those of you who I follow who are doing really well starting out. Very glad that no one seems to be struggling as much as myself.

 

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[COSenior]

1. Rewrite my novellas to be novels with a prema-free novella lead-in (or abandon the series and just start anew).

I think, for me, the publishing model that would work best for the genres I'm interested in looks like this:

- Prema-free novella for hands-free promotion that leads into a novel trilogy. (20k-40k words)
- Novel one of trilogy (70k-100k words)
- Novel two of trilogy (70k-100k words)
- Novel three of trilogy (70k-100k words)
- Omnibus of trilogy

That, to me, would be one product. Naturally, build an email list with it, and when the next product is ready to launch, starting with a new perma-free lead-in to your next trilogy, blast that email list with every new release. Release these "products" 3-4 times a year, and there's your publishing model.




2. Abandon current series/pen name and switch to a genre that likes novellas (romance/erotica).

I think the publishing model for this would contain more installments and look similar to this (erotica titles probably wouldn't be this long, but it's just an example):

- Perma-free novella lead-in (20-40k words)
- Novella series book 1 (30-40k words)
- Novella series book 2 (30-40k words)
- Novella series book 3 (30-40k words)
- Novella series book 4 (30-40k words)
- Novella series book 5 (30-40k words)
- Novella series book 6 (final) (30-40k words)
- Omnibus

I notice that when a series go over 5 or 6 titles without a conclusion, readers start to get pretty pissed off, so I don't think I would have more than 6 titles per series. This is also one "product" to me. Do this 3-4 times a year, each containing 5 or 6 individual releases, and there's that publishing model.

I should note, however, that I really, really don't want to write in erotica for the simple fact that erotica writers are constantly targeted for obliteration. It's not something I want to deal with and fight against. So that genre is probably out.

I believe you have a solid plan either way, but I would encourage you to stick with trilogies, possibly with a short perma-free prequel, if you go with the Romance genre. Or possibly a serialized novel with ultra-short releases every week, like Britnidanielle is working on. I have taken your earlier research to heart and am writing the second of a trilogy that leans far to the Romance side of my original genre, having published a prequel that's intended to be perma-free within a couple of days of the first book. I haven't got any data to work with yet, but will post on my thread when I do.

The main issue I can see with your plan is the slowdown of production, which you may, however, be able to offset with higher prices. On the other hand, your preferred genre, with longer books, would be more suited to selling in print form on CreateSpace, which would net a different audience and a higher price.

In any case, thank you for continuing to think out loud. Your conclusions make sense.

 

[Thriftypreneur]

I would encourage you to stick with trilogies, possibly with a short perma-free prequel

Yeah, the slowdown in production couldn't be helped due to outside influences. Sucks, but it is what it is. The trilogy model is actually what I'm looking at the most right now. I really think a perma-free prequel leading into a trilogy product is a strong way to go for most genres.

While I still really like the novella publishing model, I just don't think straight romance is my genre. I do see this model working in some horror genres, but I don't know if that's my spot either. Lots of self-evaluating questions to answer.

Since I'm doing all this by myself (which has been rough, too), I expected and planned for my first pen name works to be largely for the steep, bumpy learning curve that's been kicking my a$$, but it's still hard to dump the pen name/series I've worked on for some reason. (Sucks when people think your baby is ugly! ) I do know that it doesn't make sense to put another month of writing into this series when it's going to be ranked 500,000+ and not selling at all.

Whole thing just kinda sucks because while I've learned a great deal, it's like I'm starting all over again, and it's hard to fight the discouragement and self-doubt alone.

 

[Mbc]

Our Only Real Asset?

Just got done setting up my mailing list and I'm in the process of adding the links to my limited catalog.

/beginrant

Fighting with KDP support again to remove the category lock from my first book so I can optimize the listings before running my last KDP Select promotion.

Really hate to rag on them (Ok, no I dont), but their support has to be the worst of any company I've ever dealt with.

I send them an email asking them to do 2 + 2.

The respond by saying:

Thank you for choosing KDP! I'm sorry that your issue hasn't been resolved with the last 5 emails you sent us, even though you explained your issue ad nauseum. I went over and randomly drew a piece of paper from our "solutions hat" and am in the process of applying whatever the paper said to your account. You should see the changes on the site within 48 hours.

Don't bother responding to this email, because it won't reach us. If you have further trouble, please go through the KDP dashboard so you can play customer support roulette again. Thanks for choosing KDP!

/endrant

Anyway, now that that's out of my system.

I was thinking about fastlane as self-published authors, I think our only real asset is the fan base we cultivate. I'm pretty sure I've seen MJ mention this once or twice before. And, the more I thought about it, the more I realized I needed to really hurry up and start building an email list.

Not a Facebook page, not a twitter page, but an email list. It's the one thing we can build (besides our books) that we have complete control over.

Here's something interesting about Facebook pages:

With a Facebook page, even if you have 100,000 fans, you're not going to be able to reach even half of them when you post an update.

https://www.facebook.com/marketing/posts/10150839503836337​

I'm not sure how much that 16% changes with engagement, but I know that they don't allow you to reach 100% without sponsored posts.

I was initially just linking to my Facebook page from my book, but when I remembered that they didn't allow you to reach all of your fans, I quickly got to work on putting my email list together. Even when I make my own online catalog, everything will drive my readers to that email list. I think it's the most important asset we can build, by far.

Let's say you build your own online catalog, link to it from your books, but you're not building an email list. Then, somehow you have a crazy stroke of luck and get mentioned on some popular blog or something. Your sales skyrocket for a few weeks, then begin the normal decline. After it's all said and done, sure, you've had a big increase in sales and cross purchases from your catalog, but you have no way to reach all the new readers who picked up your work.

But, if you were really pushing your email list in your books and on your catalog, after that spike is over, you'll have a lot more readers you can reach every time you release a book or run a promotion. How amazing would it be to have 10,000 people on your list? 10,000 people who already love what you do and are waiting to buy your next product.

Release a new book, send out an email, and bam, hundreds or thousands of buyers right out of the gate. The same with a promotion. I think cultivating an email list is the way to really make this Fastlane and consistently grow your income.

If you're looking to start one, you can signup with MailCheat(Chimp) for free (up to 2000 subscribers!): www.MailCheat(Chimp).com

They're a little more expensive than the industry leader (Aweber), but their interface is very easy to use, and you can always transfer your list later. That's what's beautiful about it... once you build an email list of rabid, buying fans, no one can ever take that from you; not Amazon, not B&N, not Facebook, not MailCheat(Chimp) - it's yours, it's stability, and it's control.

In the ever-evolving ebook market, I think our reader email list is our most important asset. Aside from our own online catalog, it's the only platform we can control that is a direct line to our fan base. Anyway, I'm sure this is all stuff that all of you already know. Just thought I'd think out loud a bit and post something while I wait for KDP support's next reply.

How do you build an email list?
As in how/where do you get the emails?
Do you make a website and have people sign up?
Do you buy an email list?

 

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[Thriftypreneur]

How do you build an email list?
As in how/where do you get the emails?
Do you make a website and have people sign up?
Do you buy an email list?

I'm building mine with MailCheat(Chimp). They allow you to create a hosted signup form, then, you simply place a link to that form in your books and refer your readers to it for new release and promotion updates. They use the form to submit their emails and subscribe to your email updates. At least that's what I'm doing.

 

[Thriftypreneur]

I have a question for those who would be kind enough to weigh in...

I've narrowed down the genre I need to focus on and my current works can still fall under that, but not in their current form.

I'm still stuck with two questions:

1. Should I rewrite my novellas into novels and attempt to revive them once everything is said and done, maintaining my current pen name (although it really doesn't have any momentum or fans)?

or

2. Should I just start completely from scratch. New story, new pen name, new everything?

Anyone with republishing experience have any advice they could share? (or any advice at all would be helpful)

 

[Deleted0x8687]

Yeah, the slowdown in production couldn't be helped due to outside influences. Sucks, but it is what it is. The trilogy model is actually what I'm looking at the most right now. I really think a perma-free prequel leading into a trilogy product is a strong way to go for most genres.

While I still really like the novella publishing model, I just don't think straight romance is my genre. I do see this model working in some horror genres, but I don't know if that's my spot either. Lots of self-evaluating questions to answer.

Since I'm doing all this by myself (which has been rough, too), I expected and planned for my first pen name works to be largely for the steep, bumpy learning curve that's been kicking my a$$, but it's still hard to dump the pen name/series I've worked on for some reason. (Sucks when people think your baby is ugly! ) I do know that it doesn't make sense to put another month of writing into this series when it's going to be ranked 500,000+ and not selling at all.

Whole thing just kinda sucks because while I've learned a great deal, it's like I'm starting all over again, and it's hard to fight the discouragement and self-doubt alone.

Hey Thrifty,

I started to read your thread a while ago when you first got started, drifted off to other things (F*cking soul sucking job, mostly), and just now came back so it's great to see that you've been staying the course.

I skipped to the very end and just want to say keep on truckin', man. I've written and self published a whole whoppin' one short story on AZ and that was it. I ran into a similar issue that you may be dealing with now; analysis paralysis. Or, what to do next? Maybe not, just trying to be empathetic...

My problem is that I have so many literary interests. I like this genre and that genre, which one to pick? Which one will help me pay the bills? <please, oh please, can I just pay the F*cking bills doing something I love and can be proud of?!> And should I write shorts or novellas? I can do them faster, and hey, Dean Wesley Smith says it can be done... But what about screenplays? I love, love movies...catch 22 there as writing for film makes you a bitch to the the gate keepers whereas self-publishing makes it so easy to put your own stuff out there as soon as you can pump it out... but then maybe you also need a blog, a platform. Blah, blah, blah.

Anyway, you get the idea. I feel your pain, brother. All I can say is and what I tell myself, is we need to get to a place, mentally, where we just do it for the love and the process. Yes, I know writing and art can be, and is, a business as well, but at the end of the day I think to be successful in this gig you really can't do it for money.

Now there was another great thread here about a guy killing it writing Romance, but I'm with you. I looked into writing that and I just can't get into that shit. If I can't read it, I ain't gonna write it. No thanks.

Write what you like to read, or what you would want to see on the big screen, stick with it and I really think you'll eventually find the success you're looking for. Even if it isn't paying as much money you were hoping, and you're not on the Fast Lane, I'll bet you a dollar you'll still be a happy man.

Keep going.

-Brian

 

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[Thriftypreneur]

Write what you like to read, or what you would want to see on the big screen, stick with it and I really think you'll eventually find the success you're looking for.

Thanks for the kind words. I really appreciate them. This is exactly what I'm doing, too (writing what I want to read). I'm just taking a step back to reorganize, regroup and come at it with a more experienced/fastlane-like course of action (where I'm writing for readers first and myself second). Everything is just wishy-washy in my head at the moment as I try to finalize these seemingly tricky decisions for moving forward.

(Side note: This is probably going to be the longest, most drawn out progress thread in the history of TFL, lol - Sorry!)

 

[britnidanielle]

1. Should I rewrite my novellas into novels and attempt to revive them once everything is said and done, maintaining my current pen name (although it really doesn't have any momentum or fans)?

or

2. Should I just start completely from scratch. New story, new pen name, new everything?

I wish I had some great answers for you, but my gut says don't give up on your pen name just yet. It seems too soon?

Also, can you combine your novellas to just be novels or are they completely different?

 

[Thriftypreneur]

I wish I had some great answers for you, but my gut says don't give up on your pen name just yet. It seems too soon?

Also, can you combine your novellas to just be novels or are they completely different?

They would all need to be rewritten and expanded. Either way, the writing starts from scratch. The only thing that would be maintained is the plot/characters. There's a part of me that wonders if the story just isn't very good and rewriting it isn't going to help a story that readers just don't want.

 

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[britnidanielle]

They would all need to be rewritten and expanded. Either way, the writing starts from scratch. The only thing that would be maintained is the plot/characters. There's a part of me that wonders if the story just isn't very good and rewriting it isn't going to help a story that readers just don't want.

I see. Well, it's hard to know if they don't want it if they haven't found it.

Did you get Beta readers? What were their thoughts?

 

[Thriftypreneur]

Did you get Beta readers? What were their thoughts?

No, I haven't. Something else I need to look into.

 

[britnidanielle]

No, I haven't. Something else I need to look into.

Yeah, try to find some Betas to get their thoughts. Writing is SUCH a solitary thing & it's easy to get down on yourself and doubt yourself. But if you get it in the hands of some readers and they enjoy it...you know it's not you. It's just a matter of breaking through the noise.

 

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[Jonleehacker]

They allow you to create a hosted signup form, then, you simply place a link to that form in your books and refer your readers to it for new release and promotion updates. They use the form to submit their emails and subscribe to your email updates. At least that's what I'm doing.

How about adding a enticement to join your list... like a "missing chapter" or character back story.

I've done this for my non-fiction book with a bonus that adds value to the book and I'm getting an over 50% optin rate. So with almost 200 sales I have a list of about 100.

 

[joanna]

1. Should I rewrite my novellas into novels and attempt to revive them once everything is said and done, maintaining my current pen name (although it really doesn't have any momentum or fans)?

or

2. Should I just start completely from scratch. New story, new pen name, new everything?

I agree with others it's a bit early to ditch the pen name. Visibility is a big issue you should check first. Even the best book in the world won't sell if no one knows it exists... Get at least one or two other pairs of eyes that are not afraid to tell the truth to your face. It's good to have at least one that is your target audience. Also often other writers can be more harsh critics than readers, so there's also that to consider when looking for betas.

As for rewriting novellas into novels. Not every idea lends itself to such stretching. Also wouldn't it be better to write a new novel and leave this as a back catalogue? You have to consider also that such rewriting isn't very far from rewriting your manuscript draft over and over. Especially when you start learning about craft just in the time it takes your to write a longer novella/novel you've improved leaps and bounds on the technical side and it might be tempting to go back and fix things. I would suggest resisting this urge, especially in the beginning. Otherwise you could end up stuck rewriting the same material over and over rather than producing new stories. You can always go back to the early works much later once you've seen some success and "stabilized" higher up the learning curve.

Also on the point of switching pen names. If no one is buying the current stories what do you gain from a new pen name? Unless you have made a "bad name" for yourself under that pen name and have a ton of scathing reviews it's not like your name scares readers off.

 

[santa]

1. Rewrite my novellas to be novels with a prema-free novella lead-in (or abandon the series and just start anew).

Are your stories enrolled in kdp? You might have to wait until that expires before you can do that (I don't know, just suggesting it *might* have an impact). Also, not sure how easy it is to take your books down? My understanding it this gets very hard if you've produced physical copies of your books.

Also often other writers can be more harsh critics than readers, so there's also that to consider when looking for betas.

This really is a toughie, it can work the other way too.

If no one is buying the current stories what do you gain from a new pen name?

interesting point

How about adding a enticement to join your list... like a "missing chapter" or character back story.

I've done this for my non-fiction book with a bonus that adds value to the book and I'm getting an over 50% optin rate. So with almost 200 sales I have a list of about 100.

Very nice!

 

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[santa]

1. Should I rewrite my novellas into novels and attempt to revive them once everything is said and done, maintaining my current pen name (although it really doesn't have any momentum or fans)?

or

2. Should I just start completely from scratch. New story, new pen name, new everything?

I somehow missed this.

If it was me, I'd go on how I felt. Am I sick of those stories and needing a break from them, or am I excited at the prospect of adapting them.
If it was the 1st, then I would just have a break a start a fresh story.
Also it would depend on what one I think I could complete quicker...

 

[webcomber]

Also wouldn't it be better to write a new novel and leave this as a back catalogue? You have to consider also that such rewriting isn't very far from rewriting your manuscript draft over and over. Especially when you start learning about craft just in the time it takes your to write a longer novella/novel you've improved leaps and bounds on the technical side and it might be tempting to go back and fix things. I would suggest resisting this urge, especially in the beginning. Otherwise you could end up stuck rewriting the same material over and over rather than producing new stories. You can always go back to the early works much later once you've seen some success and "stabilized" higher up the learning curve.

I think this is very insightful. I was also tempted to rewrite a story in one book, and turn it into a more thorough, complete story covering three books in a collection. But instead I just started writing a new story and it feels much fresher and new. I could always go back to it later, if I choose, but for now I want to keep pressing forward. It also gives you a greater chance to see what works in the market, and what does not. If something does not work, write another story. Having doubts? Write another story. Feeling paralyzed, write another story. Did someone say your story sucked? Write another story. This keeps the creativity flowing, tests the market for what it wants, and creates a broader catalogue of work. As this is perfected, you can really begin to fine-tune your writing formula and even take things to another level. At least the chances seem greater with this method.

 

[Thriftypreneur]

I could always go back to it later, if I choose, but for now I want to keep pressing forward. It also gives you a greater chance to see what works in the market, and what does not. If something does not work, write another story. Having doubts? Write another story. Feeling paralyzed, write another story. Did someone say your story sucked? Write another story.

Yeah, I agree. Great points made by many so far. Thanks for all the wonderful advice everyone. I really appreciate it.

I've decided to finish the series in it's current form and then just move on to the new, more focused novel trilogies. Even if this series never sells and it stinks to high heaven, at least it will be finished.

 

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[COSenior]

Whole thing just kinda sucks because while I've learned a great deal, it's like I'm starting all over again, and it's hard to fight the discouragement and self-doubt alone.

How can you say you're alone? We're right here with you.

Maybe this will help. I've been thinking about the fact that this writing thing has a learning curve, maybe a steep one for some of us. Just got some disappointing but accurate feedback from a beta reader whose opinion I respect, and was feeling inadequate, too. Then I realized, this is a learning process. We're just publishing our homework. If it sells, great. If not, just keep working toward that Master's thesis. You'll get there.

 

[Thriftypreneur]

How can you say you're alone? We're right here with you.

Yeah, and I'm very grateful! I guess what I was referring to was more of the Desert of Desertion that seems to come with writing (or any project, really). You know... that part where you're like "Wow, this book sucks, this story sucks, I suck, my writing sucks, wtf am I doing?"

I don't really have any kind of close, intimate support system to speak of for my writing (or my life, for that matter), so since I don't share my pen names or writing here or elsewhere, I don't get any encouraging feedback - which, during moments of self-doubt, can make it feel like you're really on your own, running off blind faith for your venture (writing or whatever). I guess that's part of the reason I've clogged this thread up with my thoughts on the publishing side and random ramblings just to get some conversation going about writing to break the isolation of the Desert of Desertion and make myself feel like I know what I'm doing, lol (which is the action of a wantrepreneur - talking instead of doing! - ugh! ).

For me, the Desert of Desertion seems to be full of peaks and valleys; one day you're ready to take on the world, the next few days, you question all of it. You can read through this thread and see it first-hand, it's kinda creepy. It always fades though (faster since so many people are kind enough to indulge my ramblings in this thread), and having got some resolution on a personal, family issue that was plaguing my mind for the past month, I feel the most invigorated I have in a while.

 

[Held for Ransom]

Hey Thrifty,

Great thread you have here. You should be proud of putting yourself out there like this.

That said, by the looks of it, is seems as thought you only started it on 8/30? I'm not gonna rehash a lot of the other comments and practical advice here. It's pretty much spot on. The only thing I'd really try and put a point on is to just try and stay the course for a while.

I mean, the last novella I released was on the same day you started this. It's only been a couple of months. Give yourself some time.

Uhhm, anyway, I'm gonna quote your last post here since it seems to be the most raw reflection of where you are at the moment...

I guess what I was referring to was more of the Desert of Desertion that seems to come with writing (or any project, really). You know... that part where you're like "Wow, this book sucks, this story sucks, I suck, my writing sucks, wtf am I doing?"

I feel this. In fact, I had it today in this one scene I was writing. Over time, I have discovered a practical use for these literary turds. I give them to my list members as "deleted scenes". People love it. Go figure.

FWIW... that... doubt... it's never going to fully go away. You have to channel it in a productive way. But you seem super sharp so I'm guessing you know that by now. It'll pass if you give it a chance.

I don't really have any kind of close, intimate support system to speak of for my writing (or my life, for that matter), so since I don't share my pen names or writing here or elsewhere, I don't get any encouraging feedback - which, during moments of self-doubt, can make it feel like you're really on your own, running off blind faith for your venture (writing or whatever).

Speaking seriously for a moment. Man, that's sad to hear about your life situation. Being alone is hard enough. Being alone and trying to achieve something like this. Mmm, that's not easy. I hope that turns around for you very soon. I really do.

Beyond that, I think that the reality is that outside of your spouse/SO/immediate family/friends (and the last two can still be iffy), is that's kind of how it is when it comes to business. I don't think that's really a writing specific thing either. It's more an entrepreneurial problem in general. That's why the "Desert of Desertion" hits home here. In the early stages, that's exactly what this is - a new business with loads of doubt.

The most important thing is your reader. They are all the validation you will ever need. Keep writing for them and to them to the very best of your ability. When you start seeing results, all of this stuff that is gnawing at you will fade away. I promise it gets better.

As far as encouragement goes, I think that there's plenty of it here. Reading through this thread, I've seen an outpouring of it. In the end though, you have to support and encourage yourself. All the "rah rah" stuff in the world won't help much if you don't believe in yourself.

You can do it.

So, I'll get off my soapbox now and get back to worshiping at the altar of QWERTY.

 

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[Thriftypreneur]

You can do it.

Nice post, thanks for that. Some great advice there. I have no intentions of quitting. It's never really crossed my mind. I know it's still really early in my journey and, thankfully, I do have realistic monetary expectations for the early stages (basically, none). Getting some beta readers who will let me know when I'm actually producing good stuff will be helpful.

Really hope it doesn't come off like I'm whining or looking for day-to-day cheerleaders, I just (for better or worse) tend to be pretty open in this thread with what's going on with me as far as this writing thing goes. Theory, strategy, speculation, doubts, turmoil, gained knowledge - for some reason, instead of just posting an update when I publish something new, I just put it all out there.

 

[britnidanielle]

I don't really have any kind of close, intimate support system to speak of for my writing (or my life, for that matter), so since I don't share my pen names or writing here or elsewhere, I don't get any encouraging feedback - which, during moments of self-doubt, can make it feel like you're really on your own, running off blind faith for your venture (writing or whatever).

Hey Thrifty,

As HFR said...this is the hardest part.

For what it's worth, I'd be open to read your work & give you some honest feedback (and not disclose your pen name). Hell, I'd even buy a copy and give you some honest feedback. PM me if you're interested.

 

[Thriftypreneur]

For what it's worth, I'd be open to read your work & give you some honest feedback (and not disclose your pen name). Hell, I'd even buy a copy and give you some honest feedback. PM me if you're interested.

Wow, that's very kind of you, sending you a PM.

I just want the feedback, no need to spend anything.

 

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[COSenior]

For what it's worth, I'd be open to read your work & give you some honest feedback (and not disclose your pen name). Hell, I'd even buy a copy and give you some honest feedback. PM me if you're interested.

Thrifty, I was going to offer you the same thing in a PM when I finished reading to the bottom of the thread. If you want a second pair of eyes, I'm here for you.

 

[Rawr]

The most important thing is your reader. They are all the validation you will ever need. Keep writing for them and to them to the very best of your ability. When you start seeing results, all of this stuff that is gnawing at you will fade away. I promise it gets better.

Beta readers are a godsend. Find them on goodreads, solicit people. My ego told me my book was fine, just put it out, don't let others mess it up.

I knew it was wrong. The best decision I've made. Plot holes found, and those people helped me create a better product AND become a better writer. In this life we are afraid of feedback, because it might cause change.\

In any and especially this business, run towards feedback. The readers are on your side. They want you to make the best stuff for them, and they will reward you for doing so. Ask for beta reading, ask for reviews, ask for opinions on covers and blurbs. You are not deserted, you are working for your readers.

This game is amazing simply for the reason that you are building up a real skill, you can see yourself get better with each book. Even when you write crap, you are practicing. You are getting better all the time. That is such a great feeling and very important to nourish - that feeling that you are improving yourself as you are improving FOR your readers. That realization is euphoric alone, but then we also get financial rewards. How freaking cool is that? In turn, the price is the grind, walking through the fog of doubt over and over, that daily time in the chair.

Over time, Enough practice + more feedback + more understanding of the market = increasing speed as you walk towards success.

Kbboards is a good forum for talking to authors and realizing everyone is going through the same thing. But write first.

from HMward:

 

[Thriftypreneur]

This game is amazing simply for the reason that you are building up a real skill, you can see yourself get better with each book. Even when you write crap, you are practicing. You are getting better all the time. That is such a great feeling and very important to nourish - that feeling that you are improving yourself as you are improving FOR your readers. That realization is euphoric alone, but then we also get financial rewards. How freaking cool is that? In turn, the price is the grind, walking through the fog of doubt over and over, that daily time in the chair.

That's a really great way of looking at it. Lots of wisdom in that paragraph.

On the same note, something small, but very encouraging, has begun to happen...

Since my last (and final) KDP Select promo, I've noticed a trickle of sales coming in for Book 2. It's encouraging because, while the numbers are still tiny, these sales can only be attributed to people reading the first book and being intrigued enough by the work to purchase the second title. People voting with their hard-earned money is really humbling and exciting.

It's a tiny victory that I'm happy to relish in for a moment and share. It also gives me great hope for when I can make book one a perma-free lead-in for the series (can't wait!).

 

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[webcomber]

For me, the Desert of Desertion seems to be full of peaks and valleys; one day you're ready to take on the world, the next few days, you question all of it. You can read through this thread and see it first-hand, it's kinda creepy.

This reminds me of the quote "what is most personal is most universal." Going this route is automatically going to be pretty isolating in the beginning. After reading how other authors experienced so much doubt and isolation, it seems all the more universal as part of the experience.

I read a pretty good book awhile ago (the 50th Law) that said most people are more alone than they realize. We have all kinds of facades in the modern world to make it appear like this is not true, like entertainment to distract us, a job to make us appear responsible, etc., and other support systems, but in the end they are illusions and we are left with the reality that we are more alone in the world than we admit. But realizing this should be a great source of freedom not fear. But most find it very difficult to realize, and they substitute their own self-reliance with some form of dependency or support.These substitutes for your own power end up being a prison that you can never leave, and that only delays the day of reckoning when you must fend for yourself, and you must face your fears (like you are doing now).

Greene says in the book we must wage a ferocious war against these dependencies, especially with so many available today, when the truth is that we must face being alone, face sinking or swimming on our own. From that relationships grow in mutual strength, because you can take them or leave them, coming from a position of power, quite content either way, as opposed to dependencies and neediness. I'm probably not doing the book justice but it is gold for times of self-doubt.

 

[Thriftypreneur]

Little update here since I probably won't have much to report until I get a lot more writing under my belt.

November and Onward

Currently finishing up novella 3 of this series. Once done, I'll be spending the rest of the month really cleaning up the first two books (which aren't selling any longer - but I'm cool with that, I view this product as a valuable learning experience and nothing more), finalizing the completed product and moving on to new stories. By December, the finished product for this story will be completed, published, and look like this:

Novella 1 (Perma-free loss leader)
Novella 2 - $2.99
Novella 3 - $2.99
Omnibus - $3.99

Once this is complete and heading into the new year, I'm planning on moving away from novellas and moving into the novel trilogy publishing model I posted about earlier in this thread. I've continued stalking a lot of self-published authors and after viewing countless titles, sales ranks, author catalogs, perma-free loss-leaders, and everything else, I'm thoroughly convinced about the conclusions I drew earlier in regards to novellas vs novels.

While there are exceptions to everything, after spending way too much time stalking and analyzing others, this is what I see and believe to be true as far as genres and novella acceptance:

Erotica - Easily the most novella friendly genre of all genres.
Erotic Romance - While no where near as accepted as in Erotica, novellas, particularly novella series, still seem to be a readily accepted trend in this genre.
Romance - As opposed to the other two genres, novellas get much, much less love here, but can still work. I find a lot of authors accent their novels with novellas as products, but, as a whole, novels are what these readers want and are buying.
Horror - Much less success than the three above, but I still see people finding success with novellas series structured as episodes of a series.
All other genres - You better be writing novels. Novellas as loss-leaders for novels seem to be the only useful application outside of the genres listed above.

Another reason I'm moving away from novellas, is that of all the marketing opportunities I've looked into, both paid or invite only, very, very, very few will even wipe their butts with a novella or short story. And, as a fastlaner-in-training, to me, this greatly limits my ability to SCALE down the road. If I start doing well and budget $x,xxx per month for advertising, I want to have a catalog full of a variety of products that can meet the minimum requirements of as many potential advertising partners as possible.

I'm of the belief that until Amazon does their own filtering, promotion sites like Bookbub will only continue to grow in popularity because there is a big need these sites are filling. Readers like to be recommended good books instead of filtering through all the crap themselves (hello Oprah book club instant millionaires), and I want to be in a position to qualify for as many of those promotional avenues as possible.

Other tidbits I've learned/observed and believe to be true:

- Promotions of any kind are pretty much worthless without a backlist of at least 2 other titles for readers to buy (applies to novels, novellas, everything).

- Readers are hesitant about new authors with unfinished series (and unfinished series in general). Many don't find traction until 3+ books deep into a series where, I think, readers start to worry less about it being abandoned and purchasing an unfinished product. Readers seem to prefer starting a series that is already completed. If I were to continue doing novella series, I probably wouldn't bother publishing any installments until the entire series was finished, and then, release it all at once (even if each installment is a separate purchase).

- Portray your series accurately from the beginning. If they're buying book one of a work-in-progress trilogy, let them know (and let them know to subscribe to your mailing list for release dates!). If they're buying book one of a work-in-progress series, let them know.

- Value, above all else, is everything.

As fastlaners and maximizers of revenue, I think this can be easily overlooked in the dash to build a catalog. In order to succeed where countless others fail every day, I think you have to do what other, less determined writers won't. Which is be prolific/consistent and provide an overwhelming, insane amount of value to your readers. Go the extra mile. This includes:

- Make sure each product you release is as mistake free as you can make it (typos, grammar, etc - thoroughly edited).

- Brand covers of a series/trilogy, but make them unique and professional quality. Even if your series/trilogy is one "product," every purchase should feel like something unique and special to your customer. A great example is the Divergent trilogy by Veronica Roth. Same theme on all the covers, but unique artwork. Readers notice.

- Give them the most bang for their buck on ebooks (does not apply to print versions). Trying to squeeze every last dollar out of a reader is probably going to make you a lot less money than just giving them a reasonable deal. Some people have no problems selling 300 page novels at $9.99, but I don't think any of us carry names that can get away with that. Maximize, but give VALUE FIRST! With this in mind, the pricing model I'm planning to try for my novels looks like this:

0-200 Pages: $.99 or free
200-300 Pages: $2.99
300-400 Pages: $3.99
400-500 Pages: $4.99
500-600 Pages: $5.99​

Basically 1 dollar per 100 pages (or 33k'ish words), which, to me, looks like a decent deal for both my readers and I. Naturally in a trilogy or series, regardless of individual title length, every installment will be priced the same. Price gouging as readers progress through a series doesn't make fans.​

Anyway, that's enough coffee-fueled rambling from me. Happy writing everyone. If anything interesting pops up between now and publishing the first novel in my trilogy, I'll be sure to update.