Dwayne’s Comments (group member since Apr 01, 2017)

Dwayne’s comments from the Support for Indie Authors group.

GRWilson wrote: "You were in fact arguing ... and very defensively ... and you are also trying too hard to 'win'.

Initially, you did not make any genuine attempt to understand my position, because your first response was actually an attempt to mock it. "

The group exists to support one another. There's nothing here to "win". If you think I'm trying to argue and mock, you may be too thin-skinned.

GRWilson wrote: "One always has to be suspicious when people quote words that have deliberately been taken right out of their context. "

Yup.

Ian wrote: "Getting back to the topic, I agree that so many people giving their book for free does make it harder for everyone else..."

Possibly, but those who refuse to give away their work have made that choice. And that is fine. They always have the option to offer free work once in a while and see how it works for them.

What I'm seeing a lot the last couple of days or so are several saying that those of us who offer work for free are making it tougher on everyone, that we're devaluing our work and so on, yet no one is offering an alternate solution. What are some better ways for us to get our work noticed? For me, I would need a solution that will get eyes on books that are in fairly unpopular genres, solutions that will not cost a lot of money, and will not take up a lot of time.

GRWilson wrote: "No Christina ... a moderator does not have free reign to change the original purpose of a thread to suit her own ego or biases ... "

Christina didn't change the topic at all. I just went back and reread the first few posts and what she said is in line with the original purpose of the discussion. The topic is meant to be for authors to support one another and share experiences.

GRWilson wrote: "Or are you looking to argue just for arguing's sake? "

I'm offering my reasons why I see no issue with offering a free book now and then. I often mention classic literature in my postings as that is what I enjoy reading the most and many people are familiar with the classics.

I'm not arguing. I'm discussing. The post was an attempt to understand your position. So, I will ask more clearly - WHY do you believe it wrong for authors to offer their work for free? You say it's wrong, but haven't offered any rational reasoning for it. Saying it's a "mockery" is an opinion, not a reason.

* <-- That would be a great title!

GRWilson wrote: "If you truly believe your book is worth reading then (surely) you cannot give it away for free? Doing that makes a mockery of all the effort, sacrifice, and talent you have inevitably poured into creating your book in the first place. Never mind the money (fees) you've already paid for the book cover, editing, etc."

I've spent a good portion of my life haunting used book stores and libraries. I've discovered a number of authors by getting their books for "free" or cheap, in discount bins, borrowing from a friend, getting books as gifts, checking out books from libraries, etc. Often times when I read one of those "free" books and enjoyed it, I'd go out and buy more books by that author. I was getting a good deal of literature, stacking up my book shelves and the authors were getting a little more exposure.

Now there's a certain faction of Indie authors who have somehow decided this is immoral and indecent behavior. If I find a copy of Moby Dick on a garage sale table, does that somehow taint the name of Herman Melville? I wouldn't think so, but I could be wrong. When I check out the works of Twain and Dickens from the library so I can read them for "free", does that make a mockery of their work? It would seem so, yet I'm not grasping why.

Bottom line - when I let my pride get in the way and refrained from letting the public see my precious darlings for free, I saw little to no sales. Lately I've been giving books away and lately I've been seeing an increase in sales. I realize this practice is, somehow, offensive to other authors. It's working, though. And if it ain't broke, I ain't gonna break it.

Felix wrote: "Looking at the coin from the other side - why would anyone want to buy my book when so many Indie authors are giving theirs away for free?"

I dug around and found your book, Felix. You might consider setting up an author page on goodreads and fix up your author page on Amazon. Your book is hard to find, even for those wanting to find it.

If you are not getting sales, placing the blame on authors giving away their books for free is not going to help. What I found is that you have a great cover, a good title, and from what I read the content is solid. The blurb is intriguing. If you're grandly opposed to ever giving your book away, I would suggest getting more books out there. And more. Visibility helps and the more books you write, the more visible you'll be. Your book has been out for less than two months, too. It's very rare for an Indie author to see a lot of sales on their first book in the first few months.

Tammy wrote: "I recently finished reading... I found myself skipping over..."

Let's refrain from complaining about books we didn't enjoy. What may have too much detail for one reader may lack detail for another. Let's stick to talking about our own books. Thanks.

D. wrote: "I'm not so lucky either, Dwayne, which is why I've given away my books for free hoping to spark sales. I understand the strategy but if readers can always get free books, why would they ever pay?"

I pretty much only give away short stories and not all of them. I don't give away novellas, novels, or collections except on fairly rare occasions. Quite often after I've given something away, I see a few sales or page reads on other stories.

Kind of all over the place. This reads as if this girl was tossed in a cage and then joined the JROTC. Not crazy about this sentence, either: "She senses something isn't right but decides to ignore the roars in the forest when Carter Rollins sweeps her off her feet."

My reactions as I read it... how does she sense something is wrong? Oh, roars in the forest. Okay, that would alarm anyone. But, she's ignoring it (why?) for Carter Rollins (who?) Is everyone ignoring the roars in the forest?

And who is Sarah? She's mentioned twice without any explanation as to who she is.

I'm also curious how secret these camp secrets are if they're apparently shared with anyone who comes up there.

Ian wrote: "Dwayne's comment about having no built-in audience probably applies to most of us..."

It could. Mainly I was referring to genre authors, especially those who write in popular genres, especailly those who continue to do things in a traditional manner. I enjoy writing general literature and humor, which are really tough genres to break into.

One thing that I've been experimenting with lately is, when I do have free stuff out there, I don't mention it anywhere. No Twitter, no Facebook, nothing. And I generally do three or four stories that are unrelated. The amount of downloads is about the same as I usually got when I pushed them on social media, sometimes better, sometimes not. I believe this way the people who are finding it and taking it are people who are actually seeking the kind of work I do and not someone who is grabbing it because they saw something on Twitter saying it's free.

I can't say the sales have increased by leaps and bounds, but I see a lot of activity in the pages read thingy now, often on stories related to those I offered for free.

Leanne wrote: "Am I doing something wrong? "

Maybe. Maybe not. It's not uncommon to go weeks without sales, especially if this is your first book. If you want, we do have a cover workshop and a blurb workshop, if you feel like sharing those and getting some feedback.

Albert wrote: "I read somewhere that a moderator can recommend a book to be added to list they control"

We do have a list of books in this group, but we have not added to it in some time. As Christina said, we're more about support than promoting.

D. wrote: "Buy indie, read, review!"

I can mostly agree on this part. I do buy a lot of Indie books. I can't read them all. I have hundreds. I don't always review, either. There are some I can't finish or I have no strong reaction to.

D. wrote: "Free can get you new readers but it does devalue your work."

Some feel this way, but I fail to see how. If I give away a short story and end up getting some reads or some sales on other works, seems like a winning situation. If I keep my prices high where I think they should be, I don't attract new readers. So, out of fear of seeing my work "devalued" I see it sitting there with no one reading it. I've never kidded myself about this stuff - what I write is not like what most authors are doing. I do not have a built-in niche. Few will find my work by accident and even fewer will buy it to see what it's like. So, the best way to get some eyes on it is to let a few stories go for free here and there. If you're able to get lots of sales without offering free stuff ever, great. I'm happy for you. Some of us have not been so lucky.

Again, to each his own.

K wrote "I've self published a book on Amazon and really need some advice/support on how to advertise it and get th..."

We're (mostly) all writers here and we all have books to sell. There is plenty of advice in this group. Feel free to join the discussions.

However, we do have group rules that forbid bookwhacking, self-promoting and linking. Please familiarize yourself with the rules. Thanks.

Felix wrote: ""Sorry ... but it is a mistake to offer a book for free into an already saturated market!"

ABSOLUTELY!"

I stopped offering free stuff for about six months. Sales dropped to nothing. I started offering free stuff again this month, sales and reads have gone up again.

To each his own.

Ian wrote: "I am wondering how you would advertise that. Somehow I can't see anyone putting that in the average description :-)"

I'm tempted to try it. If there's an audience out there for it...

G.G. wrote: "Again guys, I am sure there are some people that actually like limp wishy washy stuff, so no need to judge. :/"

Never said there weren't. It's quite possible some people DO like limp and wishy-washy books. I was asking Neil if that's the kind of book he wants. I thought that was clear. I don't see anywhere where I said no one would read it.

Ian wrote: "there is a big difference between trying to make people think about something and being insulting to some"

Of course there is. I've done both.