How to tell if its not working

[Ahmed]

Just want to know how to tell if writing just isn't working out.

[Bryan]

Just keep working at it. It never gets perfect but it should always be fun. Don't take criticisms too seriously. Write it, readit and stow the first couple awy under the bed. Try writing short stories.
Write a 1200 word short story only using dialog...
Just don't give up/

Hope this helps.

[Rik]

I think the biggest issue is marketing. Even if you write a great book and put it on Amazon, drop the price to 99c and get good reviews you still don't automatically get sales (assuming you are an unknown author).

You then spend so much time marketing the book you no longer have time to write. I now have a marketing plan and the key element is to keep writing regardless. I'm currently writing a second book and producing various giveaways and web assets for promotion purposes.

There are some excellent blog posts about indie book promotion. Start with:

http://www.thecreativepenn.com/writing/

Please note I have no personal involvement with this site but have found it very helpful!

[Wendy]

Rik you are absolutely right. Marketing and finding that niche for your work are very specialist areas. Some people have a real knack for that but for me, I would rather just write. Thanks for the link.

[Martin]

A possible cycle of events is:
Person enjoys reading books.
Idea strikes them to write their own novel (motive –fame/fortune/adventure)
They write a novel and become an author (maybe after many years)
They publish
They have some sales after lots of frantic social networking (maybe paid adverts)
Eventually, reviews come in – possibly some are not flattering – happens even to the top authors.
Perhaps the new author questions their work’s value (where as before they were excited and enthusiastic about being a writer)

My advice is to ENJOY being a writer, come what may.
Also, don’t forget the very thing that drew you to the idea of being a writer: the pleasure of reading a great book.
Keep writing and reading, but keep it fun.
As for sales and marketing, there’s a huge amount of free information on the internet. All I can suggest is try some of it and see what happens (be wary of paying for advertising). Writing great novels is a skill that may be honed over many years of work. Sales and marketing is a skill in its own right. A commercially successful author will have had to learn two advanced skills.
In conclusion: treat writing novels as an exciting creative hobby. Experiment with free sales and marketing techniques (try not to spam people though). If your book sales skyrocket – wonderful. If not, you’re on a wonderful journey. Socially, you’ll meet some great people.

[Rik]

Wendy - Glad the link was useful!
Martin - I totally agree. The great thing I am finding is that I'm on a steep learning curve but constantly improving everything I do. What keeps me sane is I do it for the love of it and don't need to earn cash from it. My desire is to get readers at this stage, not make money (just as well with my limited paid downloads on Amazon!)

My observation about this and other writing sites is that indie authors spend more time swopping reviews and promoting their free downloads than sharing the (harsh) realities of indie authoring. I've made loads of mistakes so far but have learned a hell of a lot in the process. Perhaps we should share our experiences, including our mistakes, with one another and work to improve our collective writing and marketing?

[Libby]

In my rambling forays into marketing, I’m finding there are more traps and gimmicks than there are actual results. Many of the sites and ‘swaps’ are by authors, directed at authors, and those efforts aren’t accessing the READERS we long to find. I have leapt into the World Literary Café site, liking and tweeting and following, and it has resulted in many hours, but zero sales. And, to be honest, all of the likes and tweets and follows I have returned haven’t resulted in sales for those authors either, because I haven’t bought a single book. I am becoming very leery of liking, because there are so many bad books out there. I truly hope mine isn’t one of them, but I feel a need to retain my integrity and only promote works that I feel deserve promotion. I don’t have time to investigate all these authors to see if I actually like them. I get very frustrated in the facebook world when I have liked an author’s page, and then am inundated with posts about their laundry woes and funny cat memes. I have to wonder, in my paranoid brain, if all of this focus on like/tweet/share isn’t just a ploy on the part of those social networks to increase their own marketing initiatives. Are we being manipulated by the very scaffold we are trying to climb? When I read of the breakout success stories of authors like Hugh Howey and Darcy Chan, they did not jump through hoops devised by social network marketers. When I buy books, I don’t usually find them through facebook or twitter. So it begs the question… what am I missing in my own marketing? I’ve tried to do the “trade reviews” thing with other indie authors, but the novels I read were so bad I didn’t feel I could help those authors because I wanted to warn readers away from them! I didn’t feel that was fair, when they were taking the time to read my novel. I worked with a young girl who swapped novels with me, providing editing suggestions for her novel, which was very rewarding and felt good, but it ate up time and didn’t advance my sales. If I have to read one more “Twilight” meets “Fifty Shades of Grey” paranormal romance, I may have to take up drinking!
The best advice, as we all know, is to write the next novel. My plan is to have three out by September, and then I feel I will actually have a platform from which to wave my flag. I know that the big market is ebook, but I’m going to try a different approach with my second book which comes out in May. I live in Nova Scotia, which is a small province and very easy to drive across in a day. I am a school teacher so I have the summer off. I am going to spend July and August peddling my print copies to every library and coffee house that will host a reading. I’m going to contact every small newspaper and radio station in the province and ask for interviews. I’m going to try to get myself on the provincial breakfast news program. I’m going to attend as many festivals as I can that will allow me to sit at a booth and offer free cookies to anyone who buys my book! My hope is to win over my provincial family, so they know my name, they hear of my book, and then they tell their friends. I always promote other local authors when I do readings, I always add a fundraiser to my launches to support local families, and I always have musical entertainment with me if the reading is big enough, so people feel like they’ve gone to an event rather than just a boring old reading. I sold 100 copies of my first book at its launch, and raised $500 for a young woman with leukemia. That had way more value for me than the two hours I spent last week liking authors I’ve never read.
Will any of this work? Who knows! I just feel that readers want to be entertained, even before they crack the cover, and my marketing demographic isn’t other authors. I’m totally naïve, I know, but I like Rik’s comment about sharing the harsh realities. I’ve been hoping the click of “like” would build my audience, but it hasn’t. I’m going to start with the ground roots connection of actually looking readers in the eye and offering them a free cookie… then maybe they’ll like me. This is far too long, sorry to ramble…

[Joseph]

I recently read Malcolm Gladwell's "Outliers," and was intrigued by his contention that success often does not come to a person until they have put at least 10,000 hours into their particular discipline. This seemed to be a common threshold of effort for the Beatles, Bill Gates, etc. Too many writers, because of their passion for the art, think their first book will be the Great American Novel. Maybe one out of a million get lucky. The rest of us must slog away at perfecting our craft, learning about the technical elements of constructing a story, focusing on the business side of publishing, etc., etc.
Never overreact to some idiot who writes a bad review of your work. There are plenty of people out there who love to tear down other people. They are mean spirited cretins who don't deserve a place in your opinion of your own self worth.
We must all hone our craft before we worry about marketing.

[Rik]

Libby - don't apologise for the 'ramble', I thought it was great. I've been trying to build up a twitter following but so far am inundated with spam and very little helpful advice about writing. I think your marketing strategy sounds really good and because it involves a real community it means you really get to KNOW your readers.

I also have some doubts about the morality of review swops. The danger is both parties may end up with a meaningless 5 star review or one of the parties may be disappointed. However, I've done a swop here that went well - we both genuinely loved each others books.

My book is an ebook on Amazon and the problem with downloads is you don't know, yet alone meet, your readers. My plan is to revamp my first book to engage more with readers and encourage them to respond when they've read it. I'm going to offer those who respond a free ebook that includes background to the series, backstories of the characters and chapters from my second book. I'm also going to develop a website for the series where 'fans' (see my optimism!) can get more information and share their opinions.

Thanks for sharing this, Libby. By the way, I loved:
"If I have to read one more “Twilight” meets “Fifty Shades of Grey” paranormal romance, I may have to take up drinking!" I know exactly what you mean.

[Rik]

Joseph - totally agree. I thought publishing a book on Amazon would be the difficult bit. Its like climbing a hill and thinking you are near the summit. Each crest of the hill reveals more hill to climb. I thought I was climbing a hill but in reality its a huge mountain!

Gaining real readers is tricky for an indie author. But improving our writing should be the real focus so when we do find real readers the product is good enough to sell itself.

[Joseph]

Thanks, Rik. Good luck with your writing.

[Dave]

I think this is an interesting post no doubt. writing should be a personal endeavor and fun. who cares if people don;t like your first book. Lean from it and move forward. Take the critisism as advice and roll with it! I love getting critiqued. Ive had five stars on Amazon on a book and then a one star on the same book. It helped me see what I was doing wrong.. In the end I realized there is no right or wrong.. It just is. Im not a big name author so I dont expect alot but I have been pleasantly surprised at some of the feedback Ive received. In the end I wouldnt change my writing adventures for anything! http://www.amazon.com/The-Sunshine-Mu...

[Dally]

Rik wrote: "I think the biggest issue is marketing. Even if you write a great book and put it on Amazon, drop the price to 99c and get good reviews you still don't automatically get sales (assuming you are an..."

Yeah, that doesn't work. If you want to sell your book, check out www.californiatimespublishing.com

They guarantee sales at no cost to authors.