Jon Lymon's Blog - Posts Tagged "self-publishing"
Self Publishers Have Got To Love America
If you want to shift ebooks, fall in love with America.
Seriously.
Even go as far as making sure there's an American character or location, or something in your book.
Because in my experience, the US is the biggest market for self-publishers who write in English. By far.
I can barely give my books away in my homeland of the UK, my freebie promotions of The Money Star shifting a fraction of what gets snapped up in the States.
Why is that?
Are Americans more likely to give works by unknown suckers like me a chance? Or is it just because there's so many more Kindle owners that side of the pond?
I'll wager it's a bit of both. Either way, as someone once said, maybe even sung, God Bless America.
Seriously.
Even go as far as making sure there's an American character or location, or something in your book.
Because in my experience, the US is the biggest market for self-publishers who write in English. By far.
I can barely give my books away in my homeland of the UK, my freebie promotions of The Money Star shifting a fraction of what gets snapped up in the States.
Why is that?
Are Americans more likely to give works by unknown suckers like me a chance? Or is it just because there's so many more Kindle owners that side of the pond?
I'll wager it's a bit of both. Either way, as someone once said, maybe even sung, God Bless America.
Fellow self-publishers, it's us against them.
Fellow self-publishers generating but a handful of sales. You are not my enemy. And I am not yours.
It is those who populate the top tens and top hundreds of the sales charts that we must aim for. It is their readership we want. Authors with agents fighting their corner. And hardbacks bearing their name. Authors with readers in their thousands who default to their titles because they’ve heard of them, or they've read something by them before, or a friend has said 'you should check them out', or they've got more five star ratings than a Michelin hotel guide.
These are the authors we want to become. These are the readers we must tempt with our words and our stories.
And we must feel no bitterness, only joy when one of our number breaks through. Hits the big time. For they are blazing a trail. Showing us it can be done. Giving us hope that it is we who will be next.
It is those who populate the top tens and top hundreds of the sales charts that we must aim for. It is their readership we want. Authors with agents fighting their corner. And hardbacks bearing their name. Authors with readers in their thousands who default to their titles because they’ve heard of them, or they've read something by them before, or a friend has said 'you should check them out', or they've got more five star ratings than a Michelin hotel guide.
These are the authors we want to become. These are the readers we must tempt with our words and our stories.
And we must feel no bitterness, only joy when one of our number breaks through. Hits the big time. For they are blazing a trail. Showing us it can be done. Giving us hope that it is we who will be next.
