A Note on Being Read
There's something special about being read. Even if it's by just a few people, here and there. Pretty much everything I've ever written before has been a requirement. Something I needed to do for a class: an assignment, an essay, a report. And someone had to read it. It was their job to do so, and they did it and moved on. Perhaps they enjoyed what they read, but I'm not egotistical enough to think that that was often the case. When I started working full time, what I wrote was mainly code, which machines read. But the occasional PowerPoint presentation or email was something that had to be read, by people who were paid to be there and while they were there, they felt they had to read what I wrote and add to it with their own words. That I had to then read.
But now, as an author, I have written things that no-one needs to read. No-one gets paid to do so, and it's not anyone's job to do so. (Excepting perhaps the content moderators who screen the endless stream of submissions to Kindle's publishing portal. Let's pour one out to those valiant souls!)
Now, I've published two ebooks so far and the numbers are nice and low, not gonna lie. But when I look at the few books that were sold, I can't help but think that someone read my blurb and decided to give it a try. And maybe they read my book and liked it. Or didn't. But they read it because they wanted to, not because they had to.
And when I look at the page reads for Kindle Unlimited, I can't help but think of it as an even better measure, one that makes me almost cry. Not because the number are low (they are) but because any number greater than zero is an indication that someone out there is reading what I wrote. And since the number of pages read is greater than the number of pages written, either there's a few people who read the whole thing, or an even larger number who read at least part of either book. And they did it because they wanted to.
That's pretty cool. I've written software that a surprisingly large number of corporate users use, but only because they have to. That nevertheless earns me a nice amount of money. But this, this is so much better. To have even just one person read what I wrote because they wanted to, makes me happy.
Yours,
Erik
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Thank you so much for your kind words. I agree - it's a long hard road to get anyone to read what you write. I also think that the authors I read (and I discovered Badger Therese, Lena White and Ashley Zacharias as well, although in the opposite order) are better than most mainstream ones.I do this mainly for fun and the feeling of achievement I get from actually having managed to write something. If someone then reads it then that kind of blows my mind. :-) And if they really like it, then so much the better!
But about two years ago, I encountered the works of Badger Therese, Lena White, and, later, Ashley Zacharias.
What I learned from them: If you're going to write a sex scene, write a friggin's sex scene. Get to REALLY know your characters. Therese's Hannah and Priscilla are the best developed characters I've ever read. Keep writing long form novels but release them as a series. AND don't expect too much readership. The average book - trad published or indie - sells between 200 and 2000 copies. MILLIONS of books are published yearly.
Rising above the competition is something most of us can't do. It ain't the sixties anymore, when a Vonnegut or a Phillip K. Dick can plod along until he hits it big.
IMHO, Badger Therese is at least as good a writer as Dick or Vonnegut, but is struggling along with a small number of fans who read his/her (I don't know if Badger is male or female.) Amazon e-books.
Bottom line: I've written two new series in 2024-25 (Turns out I didn't die after all.) Like Badger I'm sticking with Amazon for the time being. If you want to go all in with print, you might not make back the cost of your ISBN codes.
But, even if only a few friends/acquatances read your stuff, it's worth it.
Just don't quit your day job.