Keeping up with the world

[Neil]

Two years ago, after amicably parting ways with my literary agent of four years, I decide to take destiny into my own hands and publish my books in eformat. I had a huge collection of completed and professionally edited novels and decided that publishing one every three months seemed feasible. So, that’s what I did.

Little did I know I was on the cusp of an indie publishing revolution. My books were available at the right time, for the right audience, and at the right price. Kindles and Nooks were the new “it” device to have, and readers who were once against reading a story electronically, suddenly realized the ease in which they could purchase and carry along their favorite books. My sales went through the roof.

I’m not saying I was a bestselling author, but my books all ranked in the low thousands for a time. Then something strange happened, my sales started to drop. I wasn’t doing anything different than before. I still spent an average of two hours a day marketing my titles, on top of the two hours a day I spent writing new material. Yet, my rankings kept slipping.

I decided to look deeper into this new age of publishing and what I discovered is frightening.

It seems anyone who’s ever written anything is now publishing it on the internet. Last year, Amazon reported about 20,000 new titles being published a month. This December it was over 80,000. That’s a lot of competition! And these new publishing folks are savvy marketers even if they’re not great writers. They’re using Utube, and audio conversions, and video’s, and social media, and a thousand other techno resources to peddle their stories to the masses.

So, where does that leave the introvert, artist, novelist who cares about his books as if they were his children?

As I get older and more experienced in my writing, I’ve come to realize that it is the story that is most important. It is eternal once written. To create something that effects people, or entertains, or changes their perspective about life, is what any real writer hopes to achieve. Sure, there are gimmicks and tricks, and social media, and threads to artificially raise awareness of your book, but if it was written as a piece of merchandise just to have out there, chances are it will fail.

Last month, I researched much of the latest trends in marketing (seo optimization, book trailers, keywords) and it made my head spin. Whatever happened to a good story selling itself? It’s getting harder and harder to keep up with the world.

http://www.neilostroff.blogspot.com

[Lucy]

I totally agree and sympathize. There is too much out there and too many people writing who really shouldn't be. I still don't think that self publishing is the preferable alternative to the traditional route and SP is not the big bonanza it is made out to be, because the market is now too overcrowded and distorted and is reaching saturation point. I don't want to spend even two hours a day marketing and networking on the internet, I want to write.I know even trad authors with publishers have to do a lot more promo than they used to, but it's not as much as if you';re on your own. WIth SP, esp in print, you're doing half a dozen other jobs too that someone else used to do. Also, Sp authors donl;t have the credibility and often get refused by reviewers and bloggers. Yet there are some good and worthy Sp authors, I myself have several books out there as SP ebooks, two of them re-editioned backlist and one I couldn;t get published. I am now concentrating on getting my next book right and when it's ready, I'll try and get it published the normal way/ If not I'll SP it, and write a stage musical version to sell books off the back of it. You can get stuff put on by small theatre groups and sell books off the back of the show. A new business model? I did that with the Nickolai of the North show with the backlist remainder stock. We professionals, who have always made our living at writing, need some kind of outlet.

[Colin]

Lucy, I agree with your assessment. The SP market is so flooded by non peer reviewed or properly vetted materials, it seems almost overwhelming to readers. As a writer/historian with ten traditionally published books, I see the logic of your argument. Great work in the UK children's marketplace. I spent four years in the Uk in postgraduate school, and am well aware of your work. I had many friends whose kids grew upn on your material. FYI, I have always been a big Eastenders fan, and we watch it here in the USA also, although they are 5-6 years behind!

Colin

[Lucy]

Hi Thanks for your comments but I'm not sure if you haven;t muddled me with someone else? I'm nothing to do with East Enders altho I di work with an ex east enders writer on the cbbc show I created, called Big Kids. Most of my background is Kids Tv - shaun the sheep, angelina ballerina, the hoobs, big kids, magioc key adventures and lots more animation live action and puppet shows. I've written a few books, the two most well known are Nickolai of the North and Nickolai's Quest, about the childhood of Santa Claus. I;ve also sefl published a sci fi fiction called Goddess in Pyjamas and I'm working on a historical fiction. Do check out my website at www.lucydanielraby.co.uk. My ebooks are on amazon kindle. Thanks for your post on this extensive subject!