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How not to get reviews or sales for your books
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It's all the same basic information. I feel if people don't know this they should and if they do but choose to ignore it then they are the ones that get swallowed up by the industry and are slowly phased out.
It was difficult for me because my publisher went out of business after selling my book digitally for 2 months.I purchased a lot of books and I lost everything and I did not even think of marketing. I released it without any marketing. Now I have a campaign. It was disappointing to work with a company for almost a year and they take all of your savings for a project and they were sued and went under.
Not very long ago, the title Published Author could be claimed by only a few thousand living writers world-wide. The invention of the personal computer and internet changed that forever. The advent of self-publishing has allowed millions to now legitimately claim that title. Unfortunately, so many choose to publish their work before first expending the time and effort to master the technical aspects of writing - spelling, grammar, punctuation and syntax - or developing effective narration skills, the title Published Author no longer commands the respect and admiration it once did.
This total disregard for quality and professional pride by so many writers unfairly taints the fine work by self-published authors who do produce works equal to or better than traditionally published authors and negatively impacts their chances to achieve commercial success.
There are always going to be the good, the bad and the ugly in publishing whether self-pubbed or not. I'm sorry, but Twilight and 50 Shades are huge bestsellers and they are crap. And Harry Potter, much as I love the story, was not all that well-written though the writing did get better as Rowling advanced through the series and ideally that's what should happen. Then you have people like Laurel Hamilton whose later books are so poorly written, it's fairly obvious her first books were very well edited because when she managed a no edit clause in her contract the books went to shit. Don't get me started on Janet Evanovich. So, it's not just self-pubbed. Though there are a lot of horrible books out there slapped together by wanna be authors, those books will pass into obscurity because people like me (a book blogger) will not pimp out a crap book. And word of mouth will almost always win out. The hard part is getting the right readers for your book. Hire a reputable book tour company to pimp your book for you. Most tours are reasonably priced. Unless you want to spend hours researching book blogs that take your genre and even more hours emailing review requests. Even then, book bloggers have mile long review lists. Some aren't even taking requests right now (like me).
Anyway, poor editing and a crappy cover can break a great story. Scrimp, save, beg, borrow, (but don't steal) do whatever you need to do to get a quality editor and a decent cover.
You're going to hear this over and over again. Spend the time (and money if need be) to have your work properly edited and proofread. I have reviewed Indie books professionally for four years. I have seen true progress in the quality of books I am asked to review (through the agency I work for). And I also see books where I have to say, "nice imagination, interesting ideas, spoiled by lack of editing." Please, don't let your hard work fall into that category.
Of course, much of what has been said above is true. Nevertheless, what does an author who has nothing in the way of resources and could not even get enough no matter how much they scrimp and save, do? Self editing is realistically their only option. Some do not even have friends and relatives to help. A lot of self-discipline is required but if they are prepared to put the time in, use a dictionary and go through the proof-read and edit process at least five times, they should hopefully pick up most of the errors. Though it must be acknowledged there is no way they will find them all. But, hopefully, the worst will be located and corrected.
You can also read it backwards page by page.
That's one tip I picked up, too. When you read your manuscript, you're usually reading what you think it should be, but if you read your pages backwards, you can easily spot the misspells.
Groovy wrote: "That's one tip I picked up, too. When you read your manuscript, you're usually reading what you think it should be, but if you read your pages backwards, you can easily spot the misspells."Interesting idea. Will have to try that one.
My husband is the writer, I do the marketing and proofing. We always hire a professional proof reader. I will read all of our books at least 10 times before we publish. I read it after the beta readers have made their theirs comments, after the proof reads, after any changes have been made, then I read it backwards. And still sometimes we will find some typo or other error. But at some point you need to publish. No one is perfect but we try for perfection and we try for no egregious mistakes. :)
That's how I edited my second book, reading it backwards. Even then, you need to read each paragraph twice or more, but it works. It's also far easier to find over repitition of some words because it's a little more jarring when you go at it backwards.I paid a guy to edit my first, and he botched a couple of technical details, that were part of the narrative, simply because he didn't know an esoteric detail about Russian trucks. I didn't catch it because I didn't do the backwards thing.
In fairness, I see TONS of minor technical errors in other books, and have learned not to care if they're not really important. I suspect that both of mine have errors that only people immersed in the military can spot. I just hope they're not game changing biggies.
Dennis wrote: "You can also read it backwards page by page."
Another very effective tip is to read your manuscript out loud.
Another very effective tip is to read your manuscript out loud.
T.R. wrote: "Nevertheless, what does an author who has nothing in the way of resources and could not even get enough no matter how much they scrimp and save, do?..."Beta Reading Circles are a pretty good idea. Find other authors who have finished, but unpublished work and trade with them. Read and comment on a chapter at a time. The fact that you both are looking forward to the other's feedback will keep you motivated, and you will get detailed chapter by chapter analysis for FREE that would otherwise be astronomically expensive. If the group is five or six people strong and you keep switching you'll get a lot of different perspectives too, which will improve the overall quality of your writing.
Dennis wrote: ""My advice to authors is this: spend the money on quality, thorough editing by a professional. If you don’t have the money, charge it, borrow it, save up by making all your coffee at home — but mak..."Some writers don't want to spend any money on this type of thing. I agree with you, Dennis. If you're serious about writing and wanting to become an author, you have to spend money on the essentials and these are indeed essentials.
David wrote: "T.R. wrote: "Nevertheless, what does an author who has nothing in the way of resources and could not even get enough no matter how much they scrimp and save, do?..."Beta Reading Circles are a pre..."
Thank you for the sensible suggestion David.
T.R. wrote: "Of course, much of what has been said above is true. Nevertheless, what does an author who has nothing in the way of resources and could not even get enough no matter how much they scrimp and save,..."Truthfully, there are a lot in that boat. I would strongly recommend using word to help a bit with the spell checking and basic grammar, have a thesaurus available, and there are sites that you can plug in parts to perform a basic electronic edit.
Also be aware that there are books you can usually check out from your local library, including searching your local college bookstores for books in English and Literature subjects, so that you can further improve your story.
Do the best you can, take a couple weeks/month away from the story, and go back through it.
While it isn't the same as getting it done professionally, it helps.
Use the time it is stewing to work on reading to get a better grasp of flow and such.
There are also some free online writing courses and sources you can use as well.
Ben wrote: "T.R. wrote: "Of course, much of what has been said above is true. Nevertheless, what does an author who has nothing in the way of resources and could not even get enough no matter how much they scr..."Thank you for your ideas. I already do most of what you suggest and feel my books are the best I am able to achieve. Of course, as any writer knows, it is not possible to pick up all your own typos but at least self-publishing systems do enable corrected editions to be uploaded though hopefully not too frequently.
Jim wrote: "Not very long ago, the title Published Author could be claimed by only a few thousand living writers world-wide. The invention of the personal computer and internet changed that forever. The advent..."I agree. And sometimes, the mixture of ignorance and confidence that these authors show has to be seen to be believed.
Authortip from @BookDailycom: How NOT To Get Reviews or Sales For Your Book by @m3lissab33 www.bookdaily.com/authorresource/blog...