Updates and News

It's only been a week since I jumped into the ebook world of publishing with 10 Bits of My Brain, and so far, it's been fun.  Sales are slow, but that's to be expected, particularly because I didn't blitz the promotions for the release date (and if you haven't gotten it yet, you know what to do!).  Instead, I'm taking it one step at a time to see the impact of different avenues.

First, I did little except making notice to my platform — in my case, The Eclectic Review podcast and the Magical Words blog (plus some mentions on FB and Goodreads).  So far that has produced a flicker of sales but not as much as I hoped.  Thus, my platform may not be as strong as I had thought it to be.  Although, since people don't impulse buy books in the same way they might consume music or a movie or any other entertainment, sales from that group might trickle in over a month or two.  I've now received a book review at The Canary and I'm doing a guest blog on short stories soon.  So, I'll see the impact of those.  In the meantime, I've started putting out my older short stories as individual pieces, each for only $.99 (the first is Strong Heart Blue, available now).  I figured the majority of readers don't know my name yet, so this might be a good, inexpensive way for people to try out my work.  Besides, even just one sale of my short stories thrills me.

The points here are that if you're going the ebook route, then you can use certain aspects of it to your advantage.  First, there is no shelf-life of an ebook.  As long as the internet exists, so will these books, so the pressure to SELL BIG RIGHT NOW is off.  Instead, take your time, learn what works for you, and find ways to expand upon that.  Second, smaller pieces — short stories, novellas, even poetry — now have a venue that they never had before.  And finally, if you can be realistic in your expectations and have patience in your career needs, this can be a rewarding experience.