Am I doing this right?

In the past 15 months, I have published 3 category length books and two short stories. I have another category book contracted, a short story that I’ve had an offer and am waiting for the contract on, and a couple of other works in progress. This is beginning to produce an income stream which is growing, but by no means spectacular. If you’re a regular here, you’ll know that. What I’m playing for is the long game. A steady output (which ought to increase next year, once the PhD is done) and a steadily growing income. Everyone says that the best way to increase the sales of your existing books is to write more books, and that is what I’ve been trying to do.

But every so often, I look around and see other people hitting the heights with books that make me go ‘Huh? Really? THAT?’

And then I wonder if I’m doing this wrong.

I see authors engaging in marketing practices that feel decidedly underhand (competitions where you have to write a review of the book to enter, for instance).

I see authors stirring up online controversy, getting their name known for all the wrong reasons, but then seeing their sales rocket.

I see authors not bothering with the most basic copyediting/proofreading and millions of readers who don’t seem to care.

I see books with covers that are illegible, badly put together or just plain ugly, and yet they seem to catch the eye of thousands of readers.

I see people getting ahead because of who they know – established authors promoting the work of their buddies, or big review sites picking out titles of their friends to review.

And I wonder if I’m doing this wrong.

My books are not great literature, I know that. I’m not wondering why I haven’t sold millions and hit bestseller lists and so on. But I do think that they are pretty well-produced, reasonably well-written, fun stories that other people seem to enjoy. I know that they have taken time and care to write, edit and publish – both my self-published and my Entangled titles. They are not perfect, but I’m proud of them.

I can’t bear the idea of selling by controversy, or dodgy deals. I’m not prepared to put my name to a shoddy product. I’m hopeless at networking – I have lots of friends but my stomach turns at the idea of leveraging them for the sake of profit.

So I guess I may be doing this wrong, but it’s the only way I know how to do it.