Guest Post from Tim Miller the Author of The Hand of God
I wrote my first book almost ten years ago. I had gone through the whole publishing mess that many of you have experienced already. Even back then the publishing world was beginning to change. Print on demand technology was just coming into its own, and authors were finally able to put their own books in print for minimal cost. So I went ahead and did it, and came out with a nice little product. Internet marketing was just beginning at that time as well. There wasn't Twitter or Facebook. We had to make our own websites, sign up on Yahoo groups and message boards. I did book signings at any place that would have me. I would go to Barnes and Noble, Borders and local coffee shops.
The coffee shops were the best. They were better than Indie bookstores. The Indie bookstores looked down their noses at indie authors. The coffee shops were always looking for events and entertainment. So I'd be driving all over Northern Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Illinois with a box full of books in my car. After publishing two books, I'd sold around 700-800 total. Not much by today's ebook numbers, but for toting around hardcopies from location to location, and selling them for 15.00 each, it wasn't too bad.
Well after a couple years of that, life got in the way. Family issues, health problems, going back to school and then running a business all took the place of writing for the better part of a decade. So here I am today, just finished my third novel and published it as an ebook for the first time. I have to see it feels like I'm starting all over again. I have to find all new readers, figure out Twitter and blogging and even guest blogging. But just like back in the day, it's a lot of work. It's probably even more work now, since it's even easier to get a book up on Amazon. With KDP anyone and everyone can put a book out regardless of the quality. While that is another topic for another day, I'm now faced with finding away to get my work out there and into the reader's hands. I'm not sure how helpful this will be for many of you reading this, but it's my way of thinking out the process. It's both scary and exciting at the same time.
I find it highly exciting because I remember ten years ago, people from Indie bookstores being rude to me for merely asking about having a signing at their store. One even asked for a copy of my book. So I sent her one, and when I called her a few weeks later, she said she sold it, never read it and figures there is no point in having an Indie author there since no one knows who I am anyway. I was just a bit irritated at that one. Then there were literary agents, that was another fun bunch to try and deal with. I won't even get started on some of the small presses I had signed with and later had problems with. So as things are now, for the first time since anyone can remember, we the authors finally have more control and clout than ever before. Granted, its a scramble to try and stand out, but in the end it will all be worth it.
Filed under: Authors, books, publishing, Writers Tagged: Guest Post, The Hand of God, Tim Miller
