World, Writing, Wealth discussion
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Authors' life span
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The questions you pose would have a different answer for each person. As for the woman in the movie you watched, I think a lot of us would say eFF it... but a lot of people who have success stories got there without giving up. Even JK Rowling, who created a whole world that most people love, young or old, they have theme park worlds based on her books! She was rejected in the beginning on multiple occasions. No one wanted her book. Did she give up? no. Eventually a very small publishing house picked up the story. What if she did give up? We would not have a harry potter franchise to indulge in.
Some people write just for the love of it.
For me, writing is my hobby. I LOVE telling the stories I write. I love it when people read my writing and enjoy it. Its like a terrifying high whenever I know someone is reading it. Im scared to get feed back and dieing to get feed back all the same.
For now I am doing what I love but I am also trying to get my books out there.
Marketing I dont think I would really do unless I have some money for it, and seeing as I am a broke student... thats not happening any time soon. But maybe you want to market, if you have gotten really good feedback and have a target audience and want to do it then why not? Waisting time and money? Well you have to figure out how much money your willing to loose if nothing comes of it. As for time, I dont think its a waist of time if its something you love doing. I spent a few hours last night working on cover art for a book... I think it was time well spent :)
Yelena wrote: "Even JK Rowling, who created a whole world that most people love, young or old, they have theme park worlds based on her books! She was rejected in the beginning on multiple occasions....I spent a few hours last night working on cover art for a book..."
The thing is that we get to hear the tremendous success stories and I've lots of respect to J.K., but the stories of hundreds of others who didn't reap the glory pass unnoticed...
I was actually thinking of ordering a cover this week, but I guess, it's not something you do for sale -:)
Very true.... for every success there is failure. I wouldn't give up though, but I also wouldn't expect my writing to sustain me for the rest of my life. But if that ever happened... that would be amazing and I would be oh so very happy.Have you tried to get an agent or submit your work to a publishing house or anything?
As for covers. I just buy some stock photos on like 123rf.com and edit/use them for my covers. I could probably help you make one if you really wanted, but I am no professional.
Here are some of the ones I have done.
The 1st one was the most challenging because its two photos combined... the ghosty wolf I overlaid on another photo. Also the 1st one is the only one I have actually held yet and seen in real life on a real book. It looks good, but I'm bias.
Hey, the covers look pretty good! Well done
Nik, I think it is worth while devoting some time each day to marketing, but it begs the question what to do? I have flailed around for a few years, and I have no idea what works and what does not. As for whether to persist, I think some authors have another dilemma, which is, is your target niche really there, and if so, how do you find it? I have targeted some of my books to those interested in reading novels with some science behind them, but I sometimes wonder whether there are in fact readers out there that are interested.
I think once Rowling finally found a publisher, their main advice was "Don't quit your day job"! But seriously, I think it takes years for a lot of authors to become established. Even EL James, who is about as close to an overnight sensation as exists in the literary world, spent a couple of years posing her fanfic on websites before her novels came out. As for marketing techniques, I've been experimenting with free giveaways and have definitely noticed a bump in sales as a result. I'm still money behind, but the overall trend is positive.
Then if you get improved sales, then there is a point to doing so. Good luck with them.
E.P. wrote: "As for marketing techniques, I've been experimenting with free giveaways and have definitely noticed a bump in sales as a result. I'm still money behind, but the overall trend is positive.."Bumps are good -:) If you can expand a little which giveaways brought about sales, it'd be great
Ian wrote: "Nik, I think it is worth while devoting some time each day to marketing, but it begs the question what to do? I have flailed around for a few years, and I have no idea what works and what does not...."Since there is no definitive marketing solution that works for everyone, I guess trial and error method is inevitable for each of us. I haven't tried much, but I've noticed that once I announce here a 0.99 sale in different groups, there are very modest sales...
Others report some success with something else..
Intuitively, I would say the readership definitely exists for the novels with scientific background and I wish I could give you some workable advice how to reach them ..
I wouldn't have thought that this Capital in the Twenty-First Century would become a bestseller, yet it did...
Nik wrote: "Ian wrote: "Nik, I think it is worth while devoting some time each day to marketing, but it begs the question what to do? I have flailed around for a few years, and I have no idea what works and wh..."Pikkety got publicity to die for for free, which I am sure helped sales. There is no doubt if you can make the important pages on most major newspapers, you will sell books. Me, I have to find some other strategy :-)
Would be interesting to hear opinions of members who joined after April last year -:)
I joined after April of last year. I have at least a 3 year release schedule planned - 6 books, 2 a year. I suspect that I will market the entire series for at least an additional year after the last book is released. So if after 4 years if this isnt really starting to gain momentum I have to admit that I failed. What I mean by momentum isnt money to quit my day job but enough sales and traffic that will give me a basis to launch my cross promotional marketing efforts. I highly doubt I will ever see enough book sales revenue that I can solely rely on being an author.
But my plan is to cross market and make additional sales of other disposable products to my readers. My series is a prelude to launch various products. That could generate enough revenue to retire from my practice.
Good plan, good starter and reasonable timeframe. Hope it works out well!
Are many authors prepared for a long game or a sometimes sobering effect of world's indifference to a newly published masterpiece discourages the most?
I suspect most authors get discouraged at some point because let's face it, getting sales is difficult because there is so much out there. I can remember when you could browse on Amazon in a genre and maybe come up with no more than about six pages. Then you had a chance, except that Amazon would only permit self-publishing from those who has a US bank account (and maybe a British one). Thanks to money laundering laws, I could not get a US bank account. Aaaargh. By the time they accepted stuff from NZ, those easy days were gone.
Since I self-publish for free and write as a hobby, I fully intend to write novels until they bury me six feet under. So, I will be haunting and pestering this group for a lot more time.
You are always welcome, Michel, irrespective of whether you write or not -:)
Glad to hear you're not going anywhere, Michel.
Do authors last long (not physically)? :)
I heard an author once say something like under 5% of writers - also actors, directors, musicians - make a fortune on their art form. Then there is another 10-20% below that level and they can make a living at it. Then there is the everyone else category that has to have a "day job."I sort of feel sorry for how much promotion writers have to do on their own. I know it seems like they pop onto Goodreads (or other social media) just to plug the book and leave but I guess the time they have for "social engagement" is limited - too much blogging and tweeting and there's no time left to write.
The problem with time spent promoting is the same as time spent writing. If nobody is reading your books, probably nobody is taking any notice of your promotions either. To make matters worse, promoting costs money as well as time. If you are not famous, it is very difficult to make an impact unless you have a lot of friends who are prepared to help by making early and coordinated purchases and offer reviews.
Ian wrote: "The problem with time spent promoting is the same as time spent writing. If nobody is reading your books, probably nobody is taking any notice of your promotions either. To make matters worse, prom..."Facts coming out of the Penguin Random House / S&S antitrust trial reveal that out of 58,000 trade titles published per year, half sell fewer than one dozen books!! 90 percent of titles sell less than 2,000 units!!! And this is from the big houses who know how to do promotion. So to answer Nik's question about whether author's last long.... I'm thinking most don't. This is an easy business to get into, but a very tough one to succeed in.
Yeah, they invest in the first month of massive promotions - the book 📕 either flies or sinks. Most sink
Nik wrote: "Yeah, they invest in the first month of massive promotions - the book 📕 either flies or sinks. Most sink"And yet the tantalizing possibility of not sinking keeps so many of us coming back for more!!
Not sure about that, Nik. In my case, I write my novels to keep myself alive. I write my scientific books to at least publicly archive some of my scientific work. I don't expect to get rich and I really don't care; my main aim is Dickensian - getting plus $1 is great. I suspect a lot of other writers are also doing it more as a hobby than anything else, although they would be happy if they accidentally took off.
Ian wrote: "I suspect a lot of other writers are also doing it more as a hobby than anything else, although they would be happy if they accidentally took off."Room for one more in that boat, Ian :)
I spent 14 months writing, re-writing, proofreading, having others proofread, and then re-writing again before believing that I had produced a polished manuscript ready for publishing. I was wrong.An additional 11 months learning from and working with a professional copy editor, conceptual editor, and layout design artist finally did produce a polished manuscript ready for publishing.
My one and only novel was not a commercial success. However, it did sell 1,029 units during its 5 1/2 years of commercial availability. Just knowing that more than a thousnd people purchased and read my work was sufficiently rewarding for me to feel that the time, effort, and resources expended were well worth it.
My first novel will also be the last. There are just too many other things to do, people to meet, and places to visit.
Eldon wrote: "Ian wrote: "I suspect a lot of other writers are also doing it more as a hobby than anything else, although they would be happy if they accidentally took off."Room for one more in that boat, Ian :)"
It is a very big boat, Eldon :-)
Jim wrote: "I spent 14 months writing, re-writing, proofreading, having others proofread, and then re-writing again before believing that I had produced a polished manuscript ready for publishing. I was wrong...."That's still an impressive number of sales even if it doesn't pay the bills. Congratulations.
World, Writing, Wealth
Books mentioned in this topic
Capital in the Twenty First Century (other topics)Shattered Fate (other topics)
Splintered Fate (other topics)
In The Crossfire (other topics)
If I try to evaluate the time I spend on GR it would easily amount to an average of a couple of hours.. Don't know whether it's the best utilization of my free time, but at least it's enjoyable for most part.
During this time I've (e-)met a lot of interesting folks and lots of colleagues - indie authors. Now, there are colleagues who have 6-10 books out, years of writing careers and very low sales... How much enthusiasm one should have to keep going, unless you treat it lightly and do it for yourself really?
On my way to Germany, the in - flight movie I watched was 'Joy', featuring the special mop inventor going through all the troubles to start selling her mop. I know I'm not the most patient kind, but boy, I don't think I have that kind of stamina, as the heroine, to hope for success... I, in her stead, would probably say '.... it' and wouldn't see it through -:)
Unless after active business/working career, most indies combine regular occupation with writing and advise that writing is a very long run, so you need to save some steam for the later rounds.. Knowing that all the efforts might not pay off what would be a reasonable approach to keep going with some active promotional efforts along the way? Is anyone prepared to 10-20 years of marketing efforts? Would it be reasonable to dedicate a certain limited amount of time for marketing effort along the regular day?