Adventures in self-publishing, Part Deux...
AKA, if I knew then what I know now...
Honestly, I probably wouldn't have self-pubbed at all. Or I would've turned the clock back (ha!) and done it a couple of years ago.
What Bob Mayer and JA Konrath and all the other self-publishing gurus aren't telling us is that, except for a handful of authors who either got in early or just plain got lucky, the self-pubbing ship has sailed. At this point, the market's completely saturated. There's simply too much signal to noise out there for anyone new to the game to gain any traction.
(And by the way - calling what Mayer and Konrath do "self-publishing" is disingenuous. They've got full-time staffs helping them with cover art, formatting, promotion and "churning metadata" - whatever the hell that means.)
Another thing you'll never hear them admit to is that the promo gimmicks that were successful six months ago are pretty much useless now. Last October Tina Folsom came to talk to my local RWA chapter. She spent a good chunk of her time talking about how to use Amazon's tagging system - and now that system's gone. So are the "like" buttons.
Every time we authors figure out a way to help new readers find our work, e-tailers will find a way to thwart us. We're the reason Kindle Direct Publishing is such a success, but that doesn't mean they'll hesitate to stack the deck against us.
If I could turn back time, I'd do a few things differently. I'd launch with a brand-new book, instead of revised/re-packaged versions of my first series. I would've put the first three Courtland books (all novellas) together in a single volume instead of releasing them individually. (Which I'm planning to do anyway, once the reformatted files are done.) I wouldn't bother with a month-long blog tour - it was fun, but a waste of time and energy. Now that I've seen the kind of covers that sell, I would've made mine a lot sexier. I'll be giving that a try with Courtland #5.
I'm not a superstar author. In fact, it'd be generous even to call me mid-list - not that those kinds of labels carry much relevance in the e-publishing world. But the big thing no one will ever tell you is that if you're not at the superstar level, no amount of promo you do will work. Not blog tours or paid advertising or email blasts or tweeting/Facebooking the shit out of your latest release. Everybody else is doing the same damn thing, and you're just going to get caught up in the endless stream of chatter.
The only thing that works is writing until your fingers fall off, and then writing some more. Do the best work you're capable of, and keep doing it. Everything else is bullshit.
Honestly, I probably wouldn't have self-pubbed at all. Or I would've turned the clock back (ha!) and done it a couple of years ago.
What Bob Mayer and JA Konrath and all the other self-publishing gurus aren't telling us is that, except for a handful of authors who either got in early or just plain got lucky, the self-pubbing ship has sailed. At this point, the market's completely saturated. There's simply too much signal to noise out there for anyone new to the game to gain any traction.
(And by the way - calling what Mayer and Konrath do "self-publishing" is disingenuous. They've got full-time staffs helping them with cover art, formatting, promotion and "churning metadata" - whatever the hell that means.)
Another thing you'll never hear them admit to is that the promo gimmicks that were successful six months ago are pretty much useless now. Last October Tina Folsom came to talk to my local RWA chapter. She spent a good chunk of her time talking about how to use Amazon's tagging system - and now that system's gone. So are the "like" buttons.
Every time we authors figure out a way to help new readers find our work, e-tailers will find a way to thwart us. We're the reason Kindle Direct Publishing is such a success, but that doesn't mean they'll hesitate to stack the deck against us.
If I could turn back time, I'd do a few things differently. I'd launch with a brand-new book, instead of revised/re-packaged versions of my first series. I would've put the first three Courtland books (all novellas) together in a single volume instead of releasing them individually. (Which I'm planning to do anyway, once the reformatted files are done.) I wouldn't bother with a month-long blog tour - it was fun, but a waste of time and energy. Now that I've seen the kind of covers that sell, I would've made mine a lot sexier. I'll be giving that a try with Courtland #5.
I'm not a superstar author. In fact, it'd be generous even to call me mid-list - not that those kinds of labels carry much relevance in the e-publishing world. But the big thing no one will ever tell you is that if you're not at the superstar level, no amount of promo you do will work. Not blog tours or paid advertising or email blasts or tweeting/Facebooking the shit out of your latest release. Everybody else is doing the same damn thing, and you're just going to get caught up in the endless stream of chatter.
The only thing that works is writing until your fingers fall off, and then writing some more. Do the best work you're capable of, and keep doing it. Everything else is bullshit.
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Kaje wrote: "Thanks for sharing your experiences. I'm probably too lazy and too introverted to ever go that route (for books other than freebies that is), but every once in a while it appeals. Good luck wit..."
Like I said, if I'd known six months ago what I know now, I wouldn't have done it. Ah, well - at least it's been educational.
The control is appealing (especially for the cover) but I admire anyone willing to take on the publicity end of it on their own.
Kaje wrote: "The control is appealing (especially for the cover) but I admire anyone willing to take on the publicity end of it on their own."I suck at promo. Besides, like I said above, none of it works unless you're an established superstar. I plan to just keep writing, and let my front list drive my back list.
Cat wrote: "I suck at promo. Besides, like I said above, none of it works unless you're an established superstar. I plan to just keep writing, and let my front list drive my back list. ..."That's my plan too :)
The best promo, I think, is just word of mouth. You have to get a copy of your book in the right BNF's hands, and if they like it, that's all you need. That's my impression anyway. And that's true whether you self-pub or go with an established press.
Dirty H wrote: "The best promo, I think, is just word of mouth. You have to get a copy of your book in the right BNF's hands, and if they like it, that's all you need. That's my impression anyway. And that's true..."
I honestly have no idea who the BNF's of my genre are. And if any of them are fans of mine, they're sure keeping it a secret from me! LOL!
Kaje wrote: "I don't even know what a BNF is."BNF = Big Name Fan.
It helps to have a fanbase already in place. My self published ebooks are doing very well because of that. No, not best sellers, certainly, but my newest one exceeded the sales of some well known m/m authors for over a month right out of the box. I do think that the cover and having a good editor on board makes the difference.
Good luck with your adventure.