Amy’s Comments (group member since Jan 15, 2017)

Amy’s comments from the Navigating Indieworld Discussing All Things Indie group.

I’ve never done a preorder before. How about I do one for 99p etc increasing to £1.99 on release day? (Ebook not paperback. Those thing cost more.)

I would like the vampire one to be written first please.

There are a few things worse than being threatened by a knife wielding attacker. The fact you dealt with it and survived is to be celebrated. I don’t suppose anyone knows how they’d cope in that situation and I hope they never have to find out.

I have an altered cover. I can’t see how to upload from my phone though. I think it stands out more.

Yeah that’s mine lol. It has to have the word “bollocks” interjected throughout the narrative a few times. I could write that.

Oh Tahiti. Yes very nice. Dammit, I stopped doing the lotteries too!

Where is Bora Bora and should I go there?

Erica wrote: "WOW! Amy, that cover is awesome!"

I wish I could say it was all my own work lol. Thanks. I'm going to see if the designer can do what Alexis mentioned about making the space station stand out from the background. It pays to pay for unlimited revisions.

Dale wrote: "Beautiful. I'd go with it."

Thank you very much. She's working on revisions. She's very good.

Carole wrote: "I'm waiting!!"

*Raises eyebrows* Patience woman! :) It's a spree or serial killer one. I suspect there might be some dark humour because I'm a sick puppy.

@Elina - well done. I think my page reads might have reached triple figures lol

Alex wrote: "I personally think everyone who has submitted to an agent or a publisher is incredibly brave, far more so than me.
I have had my life threatened a number of times, in a number of ways, over the yea..."

That's a horrendous story Alex. And that fear may change with time, or it may not. We're all different. And no-one is wrong because whatever the experience or circumstance is, it's still valid.

We may have similar yet unique experiences as one another. Similar in that we want to be published, unique in that one way just doesn't work for someone that works for another. I've done the same things as other people in my weight loss business world and cannot see for the life of me why they are more successful than me. As has already been said-it's luck. It's not what you know, it's who you know. It's being in the right place at the right time. There's a certain amount you can do to put yourself in the right place, like sending to publishers, if trad publishing is your goal. Rejections get easier to deal with the more you get. The first ones are devastating. I cried. For days.

Aislinn wrote: "I'm really glad that self-publishing has worked for you, Carole, but it's not for everyone. And I get very frustrated with people saying it does. Particularly when they imply I don't work hard enou..."

You've got the same chance of being picked up by a trad as anyone. The more times you send it out, the more chances you have. Just because one or a handful say it's not for them doesn't mean it's no good, it means you haven't found the right publisher. Keep sending it out. Check the publisher's criteria and if you're ticking most of the boxes, send it. The more you send, yes the more rejections you'll get, but eventually you'll find the right one who says yes. And you only need one to say yes. You may have to read through many saying no until you get there.

I find that very heartening for Indies. I think I read the same thing on Medium too. If you sell a book to any trad you're doing well. But how many books are churned out by publishers every year and how many of those has the average person actually heard of?

I am dismayed that trads don't do as much to help with promo. But this is something I've heard for a while.

Out of the few agents I sent Missing Remnants to this year only one gave me more feedback than "not for my list". I'm hardened to it now. This is my second round of testing those waters. You do actually get used to it. I told somebody yesterday that I could die before I got a trad interested in anything I've written so I'd continue doing it myself. I'm not being melodramatic, I'm being realistic. My goal was to be a published author. Been there, done that x4. My next goal is to sell enough books to make back the cost of the cover £32. (Maybe I set my goals too low lol) Maybe one day a trad will pick one of my books up, in the meantime I feel I just have to plough ahead without them.

Carole wrote: "Nice cover, Amy. I miss Track.

Elina- that's wonderful news - 2500 page reads is exciting."

There will be Track 2. After Unwelcome which is the current title I'm using for Iridessian Haunts. I've never really liked that title.

I can do enough graphics to supply my weight loss business with social media stuff. I’m happy to pay someone else for covers. I would however like to make the cost of the cover back in sales and seeing as the cover was £32 I don’t think that’s a big ask.

Anna Faversham wrote: "I love it. I stopped and stared - and that's a good sign."

Yes that's a good sign. Thank you.

I've asked if she can make it stand out more. We'll see. I have a vague idea that these things are possible in graphics packages. I could spend the rest of my life trying to do it myself. I've tried. Failed. Moved on lol.

I'm the same.

Good. Thanks. So far that's positive. I'm having her change my blurb on the back. Needless to say it's my input that needs changing, not the cover designer's!

Alex, how many words in An Unwanted Inheritance, roughly? I'm wondering about paperback pricing. I need to be at least £5.99 or I won't make anything. I think at £5.99 I'll get £1.29 royalty. (I don't sell many paperbacks but I will not price it to make a loss.)

Shared.

Sounds like a good start Elina, well done.

My husband almost smiled when he saw this cover for my latest novel. It's a very good sign. (Draft copy, hence the Fiverr logo)

What do you think?